Gov. Martin O'Malley will endorse Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton at a campaign rally in Annapolis today and has begun encouraging his supporters to back her campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, sources familiar with his plans said.
The governor's endorsement is hardly a surprise -- when speaking in the abstract about the next president, O'Malley has been known to use the pronoun "she" -- but it would solidify Clinton's position in the race for Maryland's delegates to the Democratic National Convention in 2008.
Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski has signed on as a national co-chairwoman of the Clinton campaign, and O'Malley's backing would give the New York senator the support of the two most powerful statewide Democratic organizations in Maryland.
"The people of Maryland know Hillary Clinton ... and they know she has the experience to be the next president," said Wayne Rogers, a former Maryland Democratic Party chairman who is backing the New York senator. "Hillary Clinton clearly believes the state of Maryland is important, and ... she is coming to Maryland to be endorsed by the governor."
The Clinton campaign announced it would "make a major campaign announcement" at City Dock in Annapolis today but provided no further details. O'Malley administration officials also declined to discuss the 9 a.m. event. Sources said O'Malley will serve as the chairman of Clinton's Maryland campaign.
Both parties' nomination contests are as wide open as they have ever been in decades, and the campaigns have started at a much faster pace than usual.
Maryland has not traditionally played a major role in the nomination process, and even with the state's recent decision to move its primaries up to February, the contests could well be all but decided by the time voters here go to the polls.
But that hasn't dampened candidates' interest in the state. Former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. was recently named the Mid-Atlantic chairman for Republican Rudolph W. Giuliani's presidential campaign. Josh Rales, the millionaire former Senate candidate, held a big-dollar fundraiser for Democratic Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, and Democratic sources say the Clinton campaign has approached Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon about an endorsement.
Former Sen. John Edwards, a North Carolina Democrat, also has strong backers in Maryland -- including state Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller.
