O'Malley set to announce tomorrow. Tough campaign ahead.

[nickshepDEM]

Doug Duncan and Peter Angelos on the attack.

On the eve of his declaration for governor, Mayor Martin O'Malley is under sharp attack from political rivals and critics, foreshadowing a rough-and-tumble race during the next 14 months.

Orioles owner Peter G. Angelos renewed his criticism of the Democratic mayor yesterday, the same day that his baseball team bought a full-page color advertisement in The Sun thanking Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. for pressing for favorable terms that protect the team from financial competition from the Washington Nationals.

O'Malley, meanwhile, expressed support for baseball in Washington.

"I think basically O'Malley is nothing more than a Washington suburbanite who does not understand the city or its people," Angelos, a major Democratic donor, said in an interview yesterday.

Also yesterday, Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan, who is expected to face O'Malley in a Democratic primary, readied a pre-emptive strike on the mayor's credibility. Duncan is set to release campaign fliers today that claim O'Malley has inflated the accomplishments of his six years as mayor, including fighting violent crime, improving public schools, cutting property taxes and fostering economic development.

"Martin O'Malley has a habit of exaggerating in order to divert attention away from a city still plagued by crime, a struggling school system and his failure to meet his own goals," says a Duncan campaign flier obtained by The Sun.

Apparently Angelos is backing Ehrlich. Ouch. Maybe he'll reconsider if Duncan gets the nod?

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/politics/bal-te.md.omalley27sep27,1,3662260.story?coll=bal-mdpolitics-headlines

[aintitfunny]

1. Doug Duncan should be telling us

what he has done right instead of focussing on attacking O'Malley. Why does he not speak to his own strengths for Christ's sake. I have not heard O'Malley take such a tact and for a Democrat to do so so early in the campaign process is tacky and shameful. This is exactly NOT what the Maryland Democratic party needs.

As for Angelos I could care less. Angelos only cares about the money in his own pocket. I personally never saw a problem with Washington having a baseball team, but then I don't own one 40 miles away.