The decision of several states to hold local elections on the same day as front-loaded national contests has created a Congressional primary timeline that, in states like Illinois, Maryland and Ohio, parallels the fight for the presidential nomination. On February 5, the same day that Illinois and a score of other states will select convention delegates, Chicago-area Congressman Daniel Lipinski, whose votes with the Bush Administration have earned him the derisive label "Democrat in Name Only," faces a determined challenge from Mark Pera, a progressive who breaks with Lipinski to support a woman's right to choose and who opposes the Iraq War. Pera has secured solid support from liberal groups and a local daily that identifies the challenger as "the type of candidate who will spur party leadership."

The same goes for John Laesch, a Navy veteran and former intelligence analyst, who two years ago won 40 percent of the vote against House Speaker Dennis Hastert. He is now campaigning to fill the seat vacated by a spooked Hastert, who has announced his retirement. With endorsements from progressive groups and liberal luminaries like author Studs Terkel, Laesch is running two races on February 5: one for the Democratic nod to compete in the March 8 special election and one to be the party's November nominee. In neighboring Indiana, where a March 11 special election will replace the late Indianapolis Democrat Julia Carson, the liberal Congresswoman's grandson, Andre Carson, has secured the Democratic nomination and is campaigning to end the war and fund urban needs. If the onetime rapper wins, he'll be the second Muslim member of the House, joining Minnesota Democrat Keith Ellison.

A House primary on the day of Ohio's March 4 presidential primary will see Cleveland-area voters decide whether Dennis Kucinich, an outspoken critic of Pelosi's cautious approach to cutting Iraq occupation funding and impeaching members of the Bush Administration, will remain a thorn in the leadership's side. Despite his national profile--or perhaps because of it--Kucinich could be outspent by a challenger who has already raised $225,000 from donors who disapprove of the Congressman's positions on various issues, including his strong support for a Palestinian state. "Visualize millions of dollars pouring in to try to squash our efforts," says Kucinich, who seeks votes for re-election and for the Democratic presidential nomination on primary day.

As the presidential race settles, the Congressional primary season will ramp up with contests like former Iowa legislator Ed Fallon's June challenge to House Democrat Leonard Boswell. Fallon faults Boswell's support of war funding, warrantless wiretapping and free trade, and he's being taken seriously. As a low-budget insurgent candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nod in 2006, Fallon carried Boswell's district. It's not just Boswell who gets low marks from Fallon. "Like most people in Iowa, I'm pretty unimpressed," he says of Congressional Democrats.

The notion that a Democratic Congress can and should be more progressive is part of what drew Donna Edwards out of the public-interest community--where she directed the National Network to End Domestic Violence and the Center for a New Democracy before leading the progressive Arca Foundation--and into the political fray. "No matter what, there's going to be a Democrat representing this district," she says of her race with incumbent Wynn in an area that rarely votes Republican. "It's up to the people of the 4th District to decide what kind of Democrat they want representing them."

Edwards's candidacy is part of a trend that has seen veteran social activists drawn into politics by their frustration with extreme Republicans and cautious Democrats. In 2006 longtime Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy president Mark Ritchie, angered by Republican moves to disenfranchise low-income and minority voters, challenged and beat Minnesota's Republican Secretary of State, while constitutional scholar (and Nation contributor) Jamie Raskin upset a Democratic state senator in Maryland. This year, former Common Cause chief Chellie Pingree is running for an open House seat representing Maine.

Edwards, who narrowly lost a late-starting 2006 race against Wynn, is back this year with much more support, from key labor unions as well as EMILY's List. And she has a more nuanced message. Edwards is not just running against the conservative agenda and a Democrat who embraces parts of it; she wants to "push the limits" of the Democratic Party and American politics. "As Democrats, we've been too timid in terms of what our expectations are. You only have to look at the year since Democrats took over in January" 2007, says Edwards. "I think a lot of us have come to realize that it's important to be on the inside. Years ago, Paul Wellstone used to ask me to work in his Senate office. I would say, 'No, no, I'm much more comfortable on the outside.' Now, like a lot of progressives, I've realized that Paul was right. The work progressives do on the outside is essential, but more of us have to be on the inside if we're going to make the Democratic Party the ally we need to change the Congress and the country."

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