Yesterday afternoon I went to downtown Silver Spring for my Metropolitan area AFL-CIO interview. This was a panel interview format, which is sort of like a short candidate forum.

The interview was supposed to go from 2:40-3:25pm, and was to include 14 At-Large candidates. But when I arrived, only Becky Wagner and Jane de Winter were there. George Leventhal arrived shortly thereafter. Ultimately, we were the only 4 candidates who actually showed up for the interview. It turns out that the other 3 incumbents - knowing that the format would allow challengers to comment directly on the incumbents - decided to interview with candidates for other offices, to avoid debating.

"It sounded like a good idea at the time," but ultimately, I don't think it helped them to hide from the challengers. I don't think candidates who didn't want to interview alongside their opponents scored extra points by avoiding the challenge.

Personally, I preferred this format over the canned interviews organizations usually employ. I think the interviewers from each union were able to get a more complete idea of each candidate when you introduce opponents into the interview.

I think the interview went well, but it is obviously a very complex endorsement process with 14 candidates, so we can only wait to hear the final announcements.

Later, I attended the Roger Berliner-Ilaya Hopkins debate in downtown Bethesda, but I will have to bring you that report tomorrow, as I am out of time for now!