County, State Democrats Rally For Delaney, Obama

Montgomery County and Maryland state Democratic leaders gathered in Gaithersburg Monday night to show unified support for the state’s Democratic ticket, particularly 6th Congressional District candidate John Delaney and President Barack Obama.

A raucous crowd at the Casey Community Center welcomed County Executive Ike Leggett along with Gov. Martin O'Malley, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown and Attorney General Doug Gansler, among others, to cheer on their Democratic Party representatives.

After thanking the crowd for its tremendous support on a rainy evening, O’Malley quickly turned his attention to the 6th Congressional District.

“I am 100 percent for John Delaney,” the governor said. “He’s going to be a great congressman not only for the 6th district, but a great congressman for the United States.”

O’Malley said Delaney will fight for the working people of the state, in stark contrast of the incumbent, Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, a Republican who lives in Buckeystown.

“[Bartlett] may be a nice guy to have spaghetti with, but you don’t elect people to congress to have spaghetti,” he said.

O’Malley’s ringing endorsement of Delaney was followed by the likes of Sen. Ben Cardin, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, Comptroller Peter Franchot and Gansler.

Cardin said he is worried voters won’t focus on moving forward, not backward—a longtime theme for O’Malley that was recently adopted by President Obama—in November’s general election.

“I want people to know how important this election is,” Cardin said. “I’m proud to be on this ballot with Barack Obama. I’m proud to be on this ballot with John Delaney.”

Electing Delaney is only one-twenty-fifth of the way to regaining the majority of the house of representatives and Marylanders need to do all they can in support of the 6th district nominee, Hoyer said.

A Potomac resident, .

thanked his opponents—Ron Little, Milad Pooran, Charles Bailey and Sen. Rob Garagiola—for helping to make him a better candidate and said the biggest challenge come November will be unifying the citizens of the United States and in our communities.

The Democratic party is unified nationwide and will bring help to those who need it around the country, Delaney said. 

“We love our country and we work for others,” he said.

And although Delaney was the center of attention for most of the night, each speaker made sure to stress the importance of re-electing Obama for a second term.

O’Malley emphasized the budget deficit President George W. Bush created after inheriting a surplus from President Bill Clinton.

Hoyer said America needs Obama as president, citing the party’s fiscal responsibility and reminded the crowd that Democrats created the last four-year surplus.

“Barack Obama doesn’t need to be president—he’s got a million things he could be doing,” Franchot said. “But we need Barack Obama. The country needs Barack Obama.”