As Governor Steers Maryland to the Left, Talk Turns to 2016.
As the Maryland Senate debated a crackdown on guns last week, one Republican after another objected that amendments were being smothered by the Democratic majority in its haste to send Gov. Martin OMalley the bill he wanted.
But the opponents had no chance, as allies of the governor passed sweeping gun restrictions, the final victory in a series of triumphs that capped one of the most successful 2013 legislative seasons of any governor in the country.
Besides gun control legislation, Mr. OMalley coaxed a liberal wish list from the General Assembly session that ended Monday: repeal of the death penalty, a $1.7 billion subsidy for offshore wind turbines and a bump in the gasoline tax to pay for mass transit and roads. . .
Mr. OMalley has been called a rising star in the Democratic Party since he rode on the back of garbage trucks as mayor. But he has picked his battles with care. He decided not to challenge Kathleen Kennedy Townsend in the Democratic primary for governor in 2002. When she lost the general election, Mr. OMalley had a clean shot at Annapolis four years later.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/10/us/omalley-steers-maryland-to-the-left.html?hp&_r=0