It's been a really long time since my last post, but I thought I should get back into the blog; I haven't been doing enough writing lately through school, so this should be a good outlet.

The biggest item of national news recently has been the results of the midterm elections taking place throughout the country. I'm certainly excited that the Democrats have taken control of both houses of Congress, it's way too early know is any significant changes will take place. This new Congress needs time to enact new ideas and new legislation to bring some strong liberal principles back into the American political spectrum.

Closer to home, for me, there were two very important races in Maryland, both of which went to the Democratic candidate. When Paul Sarbanes announced his retirement after 5 terms in office, many people were looking to get their foot in the door as Sarbanes and Barbara Mikulski had been Maryland's Senators since 1986 when I was born. Michael Steele, the incumbent Lieutenant Governor, stepped in as the clear leader for the Republican candidate. In a hot contest for the Democratic candidacy, two men came out as the leaders for the position, Kwasi Mfume and Ben Cardin. Mfume has led an extraordinary life in the national spotlight, with high profile positions such as the leader of the NAACP. Cardin, meanwhile, has been a local elected official for nearly 20 years and led a strong campaign all over the state to take the Democratic candidacy and the Senate seat.

The governors race has been brewing in Maryland since virtually the day Bob Ehrlich took office in 2002. His win in '02 sent a shock through the system of many Democrats in Maryland, as a Republican had become governor in what is generally considered a strong blue state; granted he was running against a complete moron who only rose to the position she was in because of her last name. I'm slightly, or very, biased toward Martin O'Malley because of multiple relationships with him and his family. In addition to working on his second campaign for mayor over one summer and spending significant time in his company and his closest political associates, my next door neighbor is his sister-in-law. After 2 terms as the mayor of Baltimore, it was clear that expanding to the state level was the next step in his growing political career. There have been numerous controversies revolving around this race, most notably with the Ehrlich administration being forced quiet in it's relationship with The Baltimore Sun. When November 7th finally rolled around, it was a day that had been long anticipated and ended as a very successful showing for Maryland Democrats and a very sweet victory to see Martin O'Malley ready to become the next governor of the state of Maryland.

Here's a good article from the aforementioned Sun about the O'Malley victory and notes his close support system running his campaign, including Brian Hammock, my boss on the O'Malley mayoral campaign who was and is a great leader with a strong future behind the scenes in politics.