Del. Don Dwyer, the conservative Glen Burnie Republican, is used to being unpopular among his colleagues in the General Assembly.

And usually he doesn't seem to care. Dwyer is OK tilting at windmills, constantly introducting bills he knows have zero chance, like his annual quest for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. In my experience covering him as a reporter and columnist, he's always returned calls and been happy to talk about his positions.

But his quest to unseat Attorney General Douglas Gansler seems to have sapped the last remaining bits of sanity from his brain. Witness the bizarre e-mail exchange (second item) he had recently with Capital editor Tom Marquardt when Marquardt tried to explain that Dwyer's letter to the editor had to be cut for length.

Voters in north county's District 31 will have a choice this fall: Return for a third term a man who takes unpopular stands, antagonizes nearly everyone he meets and gets nothing done? Or make a change?

Dwyer is outraged over Gansler's formal opinion saying Maryland can legally recognize same-sex marriages performed in states where they are legal. (Contrary to some reports, Gansler's opinion does not say the state must recognize such unions.)

As Liam Farrell reported this week, Dwyer is planning a March 31 showdown where he'll try to introduce articles of impeachment against Gansler. House Speaker Michael Busch, D-Annapolis, has said he'll rule that out of order since the General Assembly's legal counsel ruled the attorney general can be removed only after conviction in a court of law.

Dwyer says he won't back down. This presents the possible spectacle of police dragging Dwyer from the floor, kicking and screaming, a foolish distraction while lawmakers should be addressing issues like education, the environment and a huge state budget gap.

If that happens, it will likely only further the separation between Dwyer's self-image and the real world. In his mind, he will be Gandhi, practicing nonviolent resistance in the name of civil rights.

But to almost everyone else, he'll just be a petulant child being dragged out of class.