I just returned from a rally on Federal Hill Park to reelect Governor Martin O'Malley and the MD Democratic ticket. The rally was advertised to start at 3:00 PM, but I got there about 4:30 and some fellow told me that only Kratovil, Kamenetz and a few others had spoken already.

MD Attorney General Doug Gansler was speaking to a crowd of about 1,500 or so. I tried to get a feel for the crowd. It was  largely a local Federal Hill group, but there were about a dozen school buses on the nearby streets. Perhaps 80 - 85% of these folk could have fit in at a Tea Party rally, with Duke and Navy sweats, ball caps and Under Armour jerseys, but there were others with darker skin, even a few women with head scarves.  Only a few people had signs and none of them were spelling-challenged. On the periphery, one vaguely East Asian fellow held a sign decrying abortion. Another called for us to save America and dump Obama; he handed out flyers, but was generally politely ignored. He actually looked homeless, not too clean with that deep tan that people get after years on the street, so he may have been hired.

Rep Dutch Ruppersberger, who has a really big voice and presence took the stage. (I'm sorry but I didn't think to bring a notepad.) John Sarbanes spoke a bit, then Rep Elijah Cummings, who also has quite a presence and tried to whip up the crowd. "Are ya out there?" he shouted. Cummings spoke at length about his father coming to Baltimore from the south because he could get a job, and health care, and education for his children. He noted the crowd's diversity. People responded but it was clear they were waiting for the featured speaker. There was a break, some music, "People all over the world, Join In!" The general theme was to get out the vote, and even better, get out and vote early. People applauded, but also socialized among themselves.

Cummings began to speak again. A military helicopter flew overhead and everyone looked up as if it might land nearby, but it kept going towards the harbor. Finally two black SUVs followed by a black sedan rolled up to the left. Senator Barbara Mikulski was introduced, and made her case for reelection, but admitted that people would rather hear from President Bill. But she promised that if she was reelected, a lot of people in Congress would hear from her for the next six years. Lt Governor Anthony Brown was introduced, but I don't remember what he said. Then Governor O'Malley climbed to the stage with President Clinton. You could hear babies crying and dogs barking in the crowd, but everyone else was finally listening.

O'Malley spoke well. His theme is Moving Maryland Forward, so he began framing his accomplishments in a series of "forward not backwards" sound bytes. The last one was that his conservation measures seem to have increased the blue crab population, "so even the crabs know that Marylanders move forwards not backwards - which is amazing because we all know that crabs move sideways." Even Clinton laughed at that one.

Clinton noted that he started his day in Florida, then spoke in Asheville, in the Western part of NC, and now here. He had a bit of cough at times during his speech.

We all know Clinton speaks well, but I was amazed at the amount of information he seems to convey while speaking in concrete terms. He aimed his remarks at the younger people because, he said, and he rattled off a bunch of percentages, they really have to vote like they did in 2008 to get the government they want. He warned them that the opposition was counting on them staying home. He sang the praises of the O'Malley government, comparing their rescue of Maryland from the Ehrlich era to his rescue of America from the Reagan-Bush era. He asserted that it would take time to feel the benefits of Obama's accomplishments and pleaded that all Democrats be given more than just 21 months to dig us out of the hole left by Bush.

Clinton noted that Americans watching important stuff like sports always focus on the facts, hanging on every word as the guys on ESPN cite statistic after statistic. It isn't, he said wryly, until we get to less important subjects like the economy, health or education that we get tired of facts and decide to go with our emotions. Then he reeled off a string of facts about Maryland placing 1st, 2nd or 3rd in various categories under O'Malley, where before Ehrlich had made us less competitive. O'Malley it seems has frozen college tuition for the last four years (and funded the college library I just finished) while Ehrlich raised them some 50 or 60%. He closed by saying that Ehrlich has accused O'Malley of raising taxes on food, which is funny because MD doesn't tax groceries. (I'm not sure what Ehrlich claimed, but there has been talk of a soda bottle tax.)

Clearly these Democrats are desperate to rekindle something approaching the excitement of two years ago, but I don't know if Bill Clinton talking to a few supporters in an upscale neighborhood is going to accomplish that for them. Back here at the office, I told the fellow from the trash service that I just saw Bill Clinton at the park, and he hadn't heard a thing about it, or he would have gone, too. I only heard about it this morning myself.

Update: The Baltimore Sun has this story, and many more pics.