Politicking At MACo Conference Is Low Key

What a difference an election cycle makes.

Four years ago, then-Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls Martin O'Malley and Doug Duncan took full advantage of the networking opportunities at the annual summer conferences in Ocean City hosted by the Maryland Municipal League and the Maryland Association of Counties. The Baltimore mayor and Montgomery County executive were accompanied by a retinue of aides as they made the rounds, as did sitting governor Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.(R).

This year's just-completed MACo conference was decidedly more low key.

Two candidates considering the governor's race showed up at Friday night's crab feast, the see-and-be-seen event of the conference. But Larry Hogan and George Owings spent no small part of the event chatting genially with one another, and conference-goers were hardly lining up to have their photos snapped with either.

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