George W. Bush

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Kensington): Getty ImagesEighth district Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Kensington) delivered the Democratic response to President George W. Bush's weekly radio address on Saturday.

Bush used his airtime to admonish Democratically controlled Congress for not doing more to bring down high gas prices by opposing more oil drilling offshore and in the Rocky Mountain West and Alaska.

But Van Hollen attempted to tie rising gas prices to the earliest days of the Bush administration, citing Vice President Dick Cheney's "secret Energy Task Force," where "[t]hey invited the top oil company executives into the White House and told them to bring along their wish lists."

BALTIMORE – The Bush Legacy Tour bus made a stop here Thursday, but it wasn’t to celebrate the 43rd President of the United States as his time in office comes to an end. The tour, which is paid for by Americans United for Change, is currently traveling from state-to-state criticizing what they feel are the president’s failed policies.

“The goal of the Bush Legacy Tour is to cement Bush’s legacy while he is still in office,” said press secretary Julie Blust in an interview with PolitickerMD.com. “And the other main goal is to make sure that we don’t bash Bush. It’s not about him as a person. It’s about the people that helped him along the way.”

Former Lt. Gov. Michael SteeleFormer Lt. Gov. Michael Steele met with Republican presidential nominee John McCain this afternoon along with several other black former GOP office-holders like J.C. Watts of Oklahoma and and Ohio's Ken Blackwell.

The discussion focused on what McCain could do to win over black voters. Steele told him many of the same things he told National Public Radio a week and a half ago.

So much for our promise to liberate Iraq, not to occupy it, and not to cart off its riches.

State Republicans gathered for the 18th annual Red, White and Blue fundraiser last night in Linthicum, the party's major fundraiser for the year.

Justin Ready, the party's executive director, told PolitickerMD.com that roughly 400 people attended the event. He said the MDGOP expected to raise "close to $100,000" for the evening.

"This is a big improvement from last year," Ready said. "We're moving forward."

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Mechanicsville) issued a statement today expressing support for Sen. Barack Obama's (D-Ill.) presidential candidacy, but stopped short of a formal endorsement.

"Over the last 18 months, Senator Barack Obama has energized and excited millions of voters who believe that our great nation must move in a new direction," Hoyer said in a statement to PolitickerMD.com. "He is the Democratic Party's presumptive nominee, and I look forward to supporting his candidacy."

The talk of Washington over the last couple of days is a new tell-all book by former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan.

But what do George W. Bush and Dick Cheney think of it?

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Democrats have not held power in Maryland's 1st Congressional District since Roy Dyson represented the Eastern Shore from 1981-1991. Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-Kennedyville) defeated Dyson in the 1990 elections, and has held the seat since, but when state Sen. Andy Harris (R-Cockeysville) defeated Gilchrest in the 2008 GOP primary, many Democrats began to focus on the district.

"I think this is the best chance we've had in years to reclaim the seat," Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Towson) of the 3rd Congressional District told PolitickerMD.com this past weekend.

The party's nominee, Queen Anne's County State's Attorney Frank Kratovil (D-Stevensville), "represents a very strong candidate for Democrats," Sarbanes said.