Maryland Governor

The Preakness Stakes has a 135-year tradition of producing not just a winning horse but a winning politician — Maryland's governor, who gets a brief moment in the national spotlight awarding the second jewel of racing's Triple Crown. Saturday was no exception, and Gov. Martin O'Malley, who has been an attending dignitary for more than a decade, first as Baltimore mayor, said he felt an even deeper sense of pride this year. "It's the first time I can remember coming here without the cloud hanging over my head about whether Preakness will be here next year," he said.

Having won approval in both chambers of Maryland's General Assembly, a landmark bill to abolish the state's death penalty awaits only Gov. Martin O'Malley's signature before becoming law. It is a tremendous political and moral victory for Mr. O'Malley, a long-time opponent of capital punishment who campaigned for a repeal during his first term only to come up short. That leaves only one major item of unfinished business on his agenda regarding the issue: Commuting the sentences of the five men currently on Maryland's death row to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Chalk this up as another wacky use of Pinterest : Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley is promoting a contest on the hot website where Maryland entrepreneurs can pitch their startups by pinning 10 images to the governor's board . No kidding. There's been a ton of chatter this year in Maryland about supporting tech startups. The state raised $84 million from tax credit sales that will be used to fund early stage startups . And today, at the University of Maryland College Park, the Startup America initiative for Maryland is kicking off. There are all sorts of websites out there for entrepreneurs to pitch their startups.

Gov. Martin O'Malley warned Sunday morning that Maryland faces "job-killing cuts" if Congress allows a wave of automatic spending reductions to take place this Friday as scheduled. Appearing on CBS' Face the Nation alongside Virginia Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell, the Maryland Democrat stressed the two states' common interest in averting the severe cuts contained in the plan known as sequestration. "This sequester stands to wipe out a lot of hard-fought job gains in Virginia and in Maryland.

Martin O'Malley is expected to be elected chairman of the Democratic Governors Association in Washington on Wednesday, a position that would give him a turn in the national spotlight. As chairman, O'Malley could fatten his list of donors with names from other states, deepen relationships with a network of emerging Democratic leaders and recruit new faces to the party. It would also afford an opportunity to install loyal staffers in key national positions. The position proved a stepping-stone for former President Bill Clinton, current Health Secretary Kathleen Sibelius and current Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, among others.

Herbert L. "Herb" Thompson, former Associated Press Annapolis bureau chief who later served as press secretary to Spiro T. Agnew during his years as governor and later vice president, died May 30 of pneumonia at a retirement community in State College, Pa. He was 89. The son of a postmaster and an educator, Mr. Thompson was born and raised in Elrod, N.C. He was a graduate of Chadbourne High School and earned a bachelor's degree in 1943 in...

Having won approval in both chambers of Maryland's General Assembly, a landmark bill to abolish the state's death penalty awaits only Gov. Martin O'Malley's signature before becoming law. It is a tremendous political and moral victory for Mr. O'Malley, a long-time opponent of capital punishment who campaigned for a repeal during his first term only to come up short. That leaves only one major item of unfinished business on his agenda regarding the issue: Commuting the sentences of the five men currently on Maryland's death row to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

Sunday mornings are whenRobert L. Ehrlich Jr.gets to share his right-wing political views with the rest of us, but his most recent column was more extreme than usual ("It's not easy being attorney general," July 29). He defends Jim Crow politics in the South and anti-immigrant bigotry in Arizona. But the most outrageous position he takes is to defend the cruel voter suppression measures in a number of states designed to keep minorities and low-income voters from exercising their right to vote.

The Republican candidate for Maryland Governor, Bob Ehrlich, stays ahead of his opponent, Gov. Martin O'Malley, by offering solutions and committing to deliver the truth to Marylanders about job losses, tax increases and big spending. After taking office, Mr. Ehrlich plans to restore Maryland's economy and rein in government excess. On the other hand, Governor O'Malley's agenda is to spend money that does not exist, raise taxes on families yet again and force Washington's costly mandates on individual Marylanders.

Gov. Martin O'Malley will hold a gathering of his Twitter followers -- the first "tweet-up' by a Maryland governor -- at the State House Monday morning to promote his 2012 legislative agenda. The event is an example of the growing importance of social media is politics and government. O'Malley is expected to unveil parts of his agenda at the event and to have a conversation with citizens who follow his postings on Twitter. "It's kind of an open discussion but focusing on the legislative agenda," said spokeswoman Takirra Winfield.

As Muhammad Ali once observed, "It's not bragging if you can back it up. " Thus, even his most caustic critics will have to concede that Gov. Martin O'Malley's State of the State address may have been the most heavily footnoted piece of braggadocio in Maryland history. Here's the CliffsNotes version of what Governor O'Malley had to say this afternoon: In the economic downturn, Maryland had to make tough choices, but they were good decisions - better than made elsewhere - and now things are looking pretty good.

When Gov. Martin O'Malley canceled his planned trip to the Mideast this morning, it wasn't for any of the obvious reasons. Like, he didn't want the delegation to be in harm's way. Or, the powers that be in Israel might be too preoccupied to deal with a Maryland development tour. No. O'Malley thought his presence in Israel could scuttle the entire peace plan. “After many days of monitoring the situation in the Middle East, I've decided to reschedule Maryland's Economic Development Mission to Israel," he said in a statement.

Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, one of the most prominent Democrats in the country, was a given a dream slot Tuesday night at the party's national convention, speaking from 9:55 to 10:05 p.m. when prime-time viewing was likely to be near its peak. I cannot tell you how his speech played in the convention hall in Charlotte; you'll have to read the accounts of the Sun reporters on the scene for that. But I will tell you this: It was not a very good TV speech, and I suspect it played poorly in many living rooms around the country.

Gov. Martin O'Malley did his job Tuesday night in Charlotte. He fired up the party faithful with a call and response: "Forward, Not Back. " He hit the Republican nominee hard on his Swiss bank accounts - reinforcing a campaign message that Mitt Romney isn't like the rest of middle class America. And he gave an enthusiastic, high-volume endorsement of President Barack Obama - along with a little Maryland history thrown in for good measure. Governor O'Malley got the crowd revved up to reach even greater heights during the speeches by San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro and First Lady Michelle Obama.

Mitt Romney's tax returns are a distraction. The Republican presidential candidate should release them for the sake of transparency. But the clamor for them by Gov. Martin O'Malley in his role as head of the Democratic Governors Association says more about him and his fellow leftist ideological travelers than anything contained in the returns will say about Mr. Romney, who does not hide that he is rich. For Mr. O'Malley, making money in the free-market system is abhorrent. In Virginia in July he said, in reference to supply-side economics, "There might not be anything illegal about any of it, but it's certainly not a good economic theory - unless you're a Romney.

Sunday mornings are whenRobert L. Ehrlich Jr.gets to share his right-wing political views with the rest of us, but his most recent column was more extreme than usual ("It's not easy being attorney general," July 29). He defends Jim Crow politics in the South and anti-immigrant bigotry in Arizona. But the most outrageous position he takes is to defend the cruel voter suppression measures in a number of states designed to keep minorities and low-income voters from exercising their right to vote.

Maryland's governor received an unwarranted one-two punch last week when Money magazine and "Prime Time Live" named William Donald Schaefer the "prince of perks" among the nation's governors for his lavish lifestyle. It was, as his press secretary termed it, a cheap shot.To call Mr. Schaefer frugal would be an understatement. He is a notorious penny-pincher whose idea of a good meal out is McDonald's; whose suits are years, if not decades, out of fashion; whose vacations take place not at posh resort hotels but in his own trailer in middle-class Ocean City.

English Civil War tensions in the mother country played out in a furious skirmish between Colonial Puritans and Catholics in present-day Annapolis, a rumble known as the Battle of the Severn. On or about March 20, 1655, a band of 130 Catholic men, led by a governor, William Stone, and other officers sworn to serve Lord Baltimore set sail from St. Mary's City up the Chesapeake Bay. Their objective was to quell a settlement of Puritans, who had recently come to Maryland and founded a village named Providence.

I am appalled by columnist Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s vitriolic attack on President Obama ("No, Mr. President, nobody else 'made that happen,'" July 22). The president was talking about roads and bridges, not the business owner. Believe it or not, our country actually does do better when we all pitch in and help one another, although their thinking may differ mine. Like Mr. Romney, Mr. Ehrlich not only distorted the words of the president, he also attacked him with the same hateful rhetoric Sarah Palin used in the 2008.

— Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley took center stage before a convention of New Hampshire Democrats Saturday, rallying the faithful in a state important to his party's hopes to hold the White House in November — and to his own future should he run for president. The 22-minute keynote address to the New Hampshire Democratic Party marked O'Malley's debut as the main attraction at an event in this first-in-the-nation primary state. The visit was part of a four-state tour kicking off what looks to be a summer packed with political travel for the 49-year-old governor.