Campaign Trail

When he first ran for attorney general on the platform of environmental activism, Douglas F. Gansler said advisers warned him he'd be tagged as a "tree-hugging liberal." As he seeks re-election this year, and with an eye on the 2014 governor's race, Gansler has embraced another left-of-center cause that he predicts is headed toward mainstream acceptance: gay marriage. Gansler, a Democrat who faces no opponent yet this fall, is transforming his campaign trail into a sort of rally for gay rights, jumping off from his controversial opinion, issued in February, that Maryland should recognize same-sex unions legally performed in other states.

O ne year ago, millions jammed Washington to celebrate the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th president of the United States. Despite a widespread belief that the nation was on the wrong track amid recession and wars, the mood was nearly euphoric at the possibility of a new beginning. The president had campaigned on the promise of a new kind of politics, and in that moment, it felt possible. It would be unrealistic to use that moment to measure where President Obama is today.

Gov. Martin O'Malley greeted mayor-to-be Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake on Friday, exuding pride that a politician he had mentored had risen to the small circle of Baltimore chief executives. "Mayor, it is your city," he said to Rawlings-Blake, addressing her by a title she won't assume until Feb. 4. "You've been preparing for this job your whole life." Rawlings-Blake gamely asked O'Malley, the former mayor, for advice, then embraced Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown. The relationship between the state's chief executive and Baltimore's mayor is critical anytime, but now, as O'Malley is poised to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from the state budget and a new General Assembly session opens next week, the city needs as many friends as it can find in Annapolis, observers say. O'Malley stands to gain as well from a friendly mayor in the state's largest city as he gears up for a re-election run. Baltimore is a must-win jurisdiction, and it could be helpful to have a city leader who will stand beside him on the campaign trail.

There are three things you should know about the HBO documentary "By the People: The Election of Barack Obama." First, this two-hour film is, in all likelihood, the document by which the landmark presidential campaign of 2008 will be known to future generations. Think Theodore H. White's book on the 1960 campaign of John F. Kennedy, "The Making of the President." Second, the documentary is so skillfully crafted that it will transport many viewers back to Nov. 4, 2008, and they will re-experience what they felt on that emotion-charged election night as the returns came in and it was announced that the nation had elected its first African-American president.

There are three things you should know about the HBO documentary "By the People: The Election of Barack Obama." First, this two-hour film is the document in all likelihood by which the landmark presidential campaign of 2008 will be known to future generations. Think Theodore White's book on the 1960 campaign of John F. Kennedy, "The Making of the President." Second, the documentary is so skillfully crafted that it will transport many viewers back to Nov. 4, 2008, and they will re-experience what they felt on that emotion-charged election night as the returns came in and it was announced that the nation had elected its first African-American president.

Politics of late give us not the flavor of the month or the week but of the moment. The American people have recently been force-fed a steady diet of "financial crisis," and whether they admit it or not, it's a flavor that has been quite beneficial to Sen. Barack Obama's campaign. But flavors of the month, week or moment can be fleeting distractions from issues or threats that should permanently hold our attention. One such threat that has merited little or no notice from the media of late is terrorism.

DENVER - Barack Obama accepted the Democratic presidential nomination last night with a scathing assessment of John McCain and a searing indictment of the Bush administration, promising to repair "the broken politics of Washington" and preside over a more prosperous and equitable America. Speaking to a rapturous audience of more than 80,000, the largest U.S. political convention crowd ever assembled, Obama delivered an address that was alternately outraged and uplifting, personal and political.