Nearly two decades ago, attorney Albert R. Wynn hired a law school student as his clerk for a summer.
The aide, Donna Edwards, went on to volunteer in one of Wynn's early congressional campaigns, working at a precinct and passing out literature.
"I really supported him when he first ran," said Edwards, 48, a Fort Washington Democrat. "It's just been in recent years that I've been really, really disappointed."
So disappointed that the civic activist and former foundation executive is challenging Wynn, the U.S. representative from Maryland's 4th District. She says she and growing numbers of voters in the suburban Washington district are upset at Wynn's votes in favor of the Iraq war and the Bush administration's energy and bankruptcy bills.
The incumbent acknowledges that this is the most competitive race of his seven-term tenure.
"I'm taking this as a very serious campaign," said Wynn, 54, of Mitchellville in Prince George's County. "But she doesn't have the experience, and she's run a totally negative campaign. She's not offering any solutions."
Political observers say the Sept. 12 Democratic primary featuring Wynn, Edwards and Forest Heights contractor George E. McDermott has broad implications.
It could serve as a barometer, they say, of just how far anti-incumbency sentiments reach in a political season where several office-holders in other states have suffered defeats.
The fact that Edwards, a political neophyte, is attracting attention is significant given that most incumbents win re-election handily, said Ronald Walters, director of the African American Leadership Institute at the University of Maryland, College Park.
"This means that there's a level of dissatisfaction with incumbents' performances," said Walters. "That doesn't happen unless some people are ready to switch their basis of support. The question I'm raising is how large is it, how significant it is."
Not strong enough to score an upset, said Walters and other observers. But the specific results could provide further evidence, after the defeat of Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman in the Connecticut Democratic primary last month, of a fed-up electorate ready to usher in a new crop of politicians. Democrats hope that dissent could hand them control of one or both chambers of Congress.
