There's a fabulous campaign going on in the Washington, D.C. suburbs. A dedicated progressive is taking on an entrenched, sold-out incumbent in a Democratic primary. Who knew? Meet Donna Edwards, the woman invisible to the Washington media.

Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-AK) and his Senate colleagues finally left town last week, leaving for their three-week vacation without any action on a telecommunications bill. They did, however, leave behind a reminder of the work yet to be done – a telecom bill of 287 pages.

We kid you not. And in those 287 pages there is not one word that protects content providers on the Internet against discrimination from the telephone and cable companies – the issue unfortunately named Net Neutrality. The Committee also left behind a bizarre sales-like brochure on the legislation. It seems to appear and disappear from the Committee web site, but you can take a look at it here, on the web site of my day job, Public Knowledge.

All of this heavy-duty legislation is a nice lead-in to one simple point. In order for Net Neutrality, or any progressive measure to be enacted, we have to have members of Congress and Senators to vote for it. Net Neutrality lost on a tie vote in the Senate committee. It lost in the House for the simple reason that the telephone and cable companies are able to reach out and touch in meaningful ways more legislators than the progressive forces can.

However, this is the time of year when we can think seriously about doing something to remedy the situation, as many people around the country are doing. It is in that vein that I am pleased to introduce you to Donna Edwards, the Invisible Woman. She’s an attorney with a public interest background running for Congress in the Maryland suburbs around Washington.

Imagine if you will, a Democratic primary campaign in which the candidates are: a) an entrenched incumbent who has sold out to the special interests and b) an energetic progressive who favors not only Net Neutrality but also new energy and foreign policies. In most places, this might be considered, what’s the word...news? Yes, news.

Perhaps it’s not as big a story as the one taking place 350 miles or so north of your nation’s capital, but it should be a story, particularly considering that the 4th Congressional District in Maryland encircles Washington, D.C. and that Donna is running a very nice campaign. She’s attracted the attention of the political trade press and some in the blogging world as Matt Stoller got the word out on her early.

She’s got lots of endorsements. She’s raising money at a terrific rate.

But will you find any mention of her in our local news media? Certainly not in the Gazette newspapers, which is chain of weekly publications owned by the Washington Post. The Gazette has about 30 newspapers in the huge 4th District, which includes parts of Prince George’s County, and Montgomery County. The district has lots of everything – affluence, both white and black, poverty white, black and Hispanic. The Gazette papers have had one quote from Donna about the Iraq war. But a story about her campaign and what it stands for? Not so much. This from a chain which has otherwise very good in-depth reporting on county and state government.

And what about the mothership? The Post sends reporters to the far corners of the globe in search of good stories. They cover the Maryland Senate primary campaign, even doing a story on the Green candidate. The Post covers the gubernatorial campaign, the county executive and county council races. All of that is fine and dandy. But Donna’s campaign against Rep. Albert Wynn has rated so far in the Post one little paragraph on an endorsement. In fact, she has been endorsed by many groups, from community activist organizations to environmental groups.

When I talked with a Post editor a couple of weeks ago, I was told the paper wasn’t going to do a story on it at all, but now is thinking about doing something closer to the Sept. 12 primary because so many people were calling to ask why a story hasn’t been done. Perhaps they think Donna won’t win. She might or might not. Not that it matters to the newsroom, but perhaps the editors think the paper will endorse Wynn. Given that the Post endorsed Joe Lieberman, that’s not so far fetched. But to ignore the story entirely is unforgivable.

The New York Times as well sends political reporters around the country. They are doing an interesting series on the 7th Congressional District in Colorado, which is perfectly balanced between parties and has an open House seat. But do they look out the back door of the Washington bureau? Or out the front door? That would be no to a fascinating political story taking place in some of the most fascinating political turf in the country.

Donna Edwards is the kind of person I’d be proud to have representing me in Congress. She sure as hell won’t vote to turn the Internet over to the telephone and cable companies as Al Wynn did and she won't back telecom legislation that doesn't require service to everyone, as Al Wynn did. One of these days, someone will figure out there’s a story to be told.