A Dark Horse Loses

  • Share
  • Read Later

When I interviewed Chris Van Hollen last week he wrote down a name on a piece of paper and placed it at the back of my notebook. The name, said Hollen, who is in charge of electing Democrats to the House, was his dark horse candidate — someone he thought would defy all odds. I promised I wouldn’t look at the paper until today and I didn’t. Just now I checked and he’d written: Florida 12, Lori Edwards. Edwards was up against conservative Dennis Ross for Adam Putnam’s old seat. Putnam, once a rising star in teh House GOP leadership, retired to run for Florida Agriculture Commission — his dream job, he once told me, as he’d first been inspired to enter politics when he met First Lady Barbara Bush at an agricultural fair. Ross was favored by observers to win and sure enough, Edwards lost tonight — not a total surprise in a night slim on good news for House Dems.