O'Malley, Cummings Talk
Democratic Unity Over Breakfast
Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley
campaigned across the country for Sen. Hillary Clinton for
president. Now O'Malley is out to bring unity to
Maryland's Democrats.
By CHRISTOPHER WEAVER
Capital News Service
DENVER - Gov. Martin O'Malley welcomed Maryland
delegates to Denver over breakfast Monday, but stepped aside
as Rep. Elijah Cummings, an early Obama supporter, pledged
that his state would be a shining example of party unity in
the convention.
"A reporter was asking me the question, was Maryland
unified?" Cummings said. "I made it abundantly clear that we
are and that we are going to be the role model for the
nation."
Unlike Cummings, O'Malley, Sen. Barbara Mikulski and
eight other Maryland party leaders endorsed Hillary Clinton,
while Obama, who won the popular vote by double-digits,
received only 11 endorsements from Maryland super-delegates
during the primaries. Other leaders, including Sen. Benjamin
Cardin and Rep. Chris Van Hollen didn't endorse Obama until
after he was the presumed nominee in June.
At the breakfast, O'Malley said the country is in
trouble, and Maryland Democrats are "going to do everything
in our power to turn things around because yes, we believe
we can," borrowing Obama's campaign slogan.
Cummings used his five-minute speech to talk about
big improvements in civil rights and the quality of American
life he has seen since his impoverished childhood in South
Carolina.
But despite that progress, "we can do better than a
president not being honest with us," Cummings said. "We can
do better than having people who are dying because we have
health care here and people there and we can't marry the two
so people can be well."
"Obama and his new sidekick Biden are the ones to
carry us to that point," Cummings said.
O'Malley also arranged a surprise appearance by
another early Obama supporter, and his first boss in the
political business, former Colorado Sen. Gary Hart. O'Malley
worked in Hart's unsuccessful 1984 and 1988 campaigns for
the presidency.
In the Senate, Hart was "a voice advocating a more
enlightened engagement with our neighbors around the world,"
O'Malley said. Hart's a progressive who embraced military
reform, and perhaps more importantly as the convention
commences, "was with Barack Obama from the start," O'Malley
said, to applause.
O'Malley didn't mention his initial support for
Clinton. Hart, though, alluded to Clinton's losing bid,
saying even "campaigns that don't succeed make
contributions." His failed 1984 campaign gave him and his
supporters enough national exposure to keep important issues
on the table, he said. In Hart's case, those include
domestic security and energy policy.
Alice Torriente, the chair of Baltimore Women for
Obama, said Hart's message resonates with her because the
former senator's favorite issues, like the environment and
national security, are close to home for Marylanders.
"We're close to the capital and anything that
happens over there could affect us," Torriente said. "And
there's the Chesapeake Bay, of course."
