Great post.  Correction: you mean to say "polls show Whitehouse at least doubling up Laffey", not Chaffee.

I wish I had any idea how this one was going to end up.  Have there been any polls on the RI Sen primary in September?  I wonder why the heck not?

Tomorrow is the District of Columbia primary, which is basically the main event, since Democrats do not lose in the general election.  Not that we have any, um, Senators or voting House members, but still.  We have races for Shadow Senator and Shadow Representative, not to mention Mayor and various local elections.

The DC Mayor is essentially a governor and Adrian Fenty, the frontrunner, is an ambitious young Democrat with a bright future.

Shadow Senator and Rep are lobbyists for DC voting rights.  We have one candidate for Shadow Senator, Mike Panetta, who has been active on the internets, promoting the DC Olympic team and trying to re-name the grass at RFK field.

If we can get voting rights for DC, then the Dems pick up the bluest of districts in the country.  Not to mention the fact that DC residents would no longer be second class citizens.

MD-Sen: The Democratic primary between Cardin and Mfume is too close to call.... I am neutral in this campaign, as I have my doubts about both Democratic candidates.

I've been neutral, but as what I've heard against Mfume is just smear and innuendo, I lean his way.

....Then again, our nominee will emerge with a superior infrastructure and name ID to Republican nominee Gard, so maybe it won't be all that bad.

I agree with that. Primary campaigns are overall good for candidates and the party. When the candidates have enough bad ammo against each other to mutually destroy themselves, they aren't good enough to win anyway against a Repo would would use that same ammo -- or will beat him anyway if the dirt on him is even worse.

We covered most of the same races, but my 9/12 primary round-up post can be found here: http://www.swingstateproject.com/2006/09 /912_primary_rac.php

I've been volunteering for John Hall here - he has a lot of grassroots support from  activists, based on his long-time commitment to progressive causes. E.g., he helped organize the No Nukes concert in the early 80s. Also he is the only one of the four remaining to actually have held elected office (county legislator and school board).

Hall was also in the seventies band Orleans, who hit the charts with "Still the One" and "Dance with Me." Funny - doing phonebanking, I got to hear these songs (which I actually don't really like) about 100 times.

His main opponent is thought to be Judy Adylott. She was actually registered Republican til December 2004, when she switched.

My hope is that John wins, and finds a way to reach the majority of voters in this plurality-R-but-becoming-less-so district. People are moving north into the 19th since NYC's closer suburbs are too expensive.

If he can make music lots of people buy, he should be able to craft a political message lots of people will buy too, right?

Tomorrow is also the primary for the 5th CD in Minnesota to see who will replace Martin Sabo, who is retiring.

This is Minneapolis' district so whoever wins tomorrow will win in November, but the three leading candidates are not all equal.

We have a true progressive candidate in State Representative Keith Ellison, and it's going to be a close finish tomorrow between him, Mike Erlandson (Sabo's chief of staff and much more of a corporate centrist Dem), and Ember Reichgott Junge (a former state senator and probably the most conservative of the three).

If you're in Minnesota, come volunteer for Keith Ellison!

Political Wire has an excellent primary preview written by Congressional Quarterly's Greg Giroux.

I don't see Tasini getting 20% of the vote. That's just a far-left fantasy.

Two points.

in MD-04, you rightly point out that, should Edwards lose, the netroots can get behind her early for '08.  I hope by "early" you mean no later than, say, Jan. '07, even if it's only nominally at first.

in WI-08, the brutal primary has already happened at this point.  Whatever damage there is, has been done.  And Dems still lead the generic ballot.  Granted, things can change (which I've watched here in Cali re: Ahnold), but I have a hard time imagining Democrats abandoning Democrats there.

"Man oh man do we need earlier primaries in several states."

Well said Chris. NY once had a June primary many years ago but it was changed to September which helps incumbents and hurts challengers.  The Dems have been hurt much more in NY by the late primary because we are much more likely in this state to have nomination contests (usually nasty and divisive) than the Repubs who largely choose their nominees behind closed doors.  Al D'Amato won in 1992 largely thanks to the late primary which left him with a tired and broke opponent who made a big slip of the tongue which cost him the election (Bob Abrams called D'Amato a facist).  There are numerous other examples but that one comes to mind.

     The Wisconsin 8 race is mostly going to be an up or down vote on Bush and on Gard, the former Assembly Speaker who was in the middle of the scandals which have resulted in the criminal convictions of former Republican Speaker Scott Jensen, former House Republican Leader Steve Foti, and former Senate Democratic leader Chuck Chvala. It'll help Gard that this is Green's home district, but voters in Northeast Wisconsin are very scandal-averse, and this seat went for a Catholic priest in 1974, who held it for three terms until the Pope told priests to get out of elective politics.

Taking back Beacon Hill is not guaranteed; the Dems haven't had that gubernatorial seat since Dukakis left office in early 1991.  The Dem will be favored over Kerry Healey, the current LT-Gov, but nothing is assured.