Governor O'Malley Announces 2012 Legislative Priorities // Pundits Speculate on 2016 Presidential Implications

The Center Maryland news aggregator recently flagged an article about Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley's subtle jockeying with New York Governor Andrew Cuomo for the Democratic Party's 2016 Presidential nomination. The Politicker NY article was titled Meet The Cuomo Clog: Is Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley The Only Thing Standing Between Andrew Cuomo and The White House? The piece contains some interesting punditry about Maryland's Governor, albeit from a New York perspective. Here are some choice excerpts:

You can’t get from New York to the White House, however, without going through the state of Maryland, and sitting in the Revolutionary War-era statehouse there is another governor. His name is Martin O’Malley, and although five years is a millennium away in political time, he has emerged as perhaps the single biggest threat to Andrew Cuomo’s well-documented political ambitions....

Advisers to Mr. O’Malley think that he will play better on the national stage than his New York counterpart, who will come across as too New York for the heartland....

Mr. O’Malley, meanwhile, has kept up an aggressive touring schedule, and regularly appears on the Sunday morning talk shows, mostly due to his official duties as head of the Democratic Governor’s Association, a job that has introduced him to the bigwig donors to the Democratic Party and has led him to occasionally cross paths with Mr. Cuomo....

“He is essentially in the Roosevelt/LBJ social Democratic tradition,” said Mr. Raskovar. “He believes in government as a vehicle to assist people in need in society.”

The article above hints at some of the dynamics between Governor O'Malley's legislative agenda and his 2016 strategy. The Washington Post's John Wagner expounds upon this in greater detail today, with his discussions of Mr. O'Malley's 2012 legislative priorities:

The past year in the political career of Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) will be remembered as one in which he spread his wings far from Annapolis. The start of the coming year is shaping up as a reckoning back in the state capital....

When lawmakers return in January, O’Malley has pledged to spearhead the fight to make Maryland the seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage, following closely in the wake of New York.

He plans to resurrect two leading environmental priorities that the General Assembly rebuffed last session: jump-starting the state’s wind-power industry and sharply limiting the use of septic systems in new residential developments. He is likely to champion increases in both the state’s gas tax and so-called flush tax, casting those moves as an effort to rebuild Maryland’s transportation and sanitation infrastructure and to create jobs....

Others suggest that if he finishes with several big wins, O’Malley has a chance to bolster his legacy in Maryland and build a case for national office. Conversely, several high-profile defeats could undercut his effectiveness for the rest of his term and raise larger questions about whether he’s ready for bigger things.

Governor O'Malley, for his part, is currently in India to sell Maryland as a place to do business, and presumably to develop a foreign policy and jobs portfolio....  for 2016? The day after Thanksgiving, the Governor wrote on his blog:

India is currently Maryland’s 11th largest export market....

For six days, our delegation will explain why Maryland is an excellent investment opportunity for India. We will work to form new partnerships, promote Maryland businesses and bring Foreign Direct Investment to our state.

We already know that overall, no other state in America has the same combination of location, workforce, and world-class facilities. We know that our public schools rank #1 in the country, that we have the most PHD scientists and engineers per capita, that we are home to 27 technology incubators, including an International Incubator, and that we remain one of only eight states to maintain a Triple A bond rating from all three major bond rating agencies.

We know that Maryland is a great place to live, work and do business and through this economic development trip, India will know too.

Alright, the horse race is quietly beginning!