Republican presidential primary candidate Newt Gingrich made a stop in Annapolis on  Tuesday, including a brief trip to the Senate floor, a tour of the State House and a bite to eat at Annapolis political institution Chick and Ruth’s Delly.

At Chick and Ruth’s, sandwiches are named after various politicians. Gingrich, former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, does not have a sandwich named after him on the menu. He ate a crab cake, The Baltimore Sun reported.

The morning started with a warm welcome on the floor of the Senate, which is controlled by a Democratic majority. It continued as Gingrich toured the old House of Delegates and Senate chambers in the State House.

He also shook hands with Gov. Martin O’Malley, but couldn’t resist leaving town without getting in a shot at the Democratic governor’s proposal to apply the state’s 6 percent sales tax to gasoline.

The plan “shows as much political insensitivity as you could imagine,” Gingrich told a gaggle of reporters, which stalked him around the State House and down Main Street.

Gingrich’s stop in Annapolis preceded a trip to Salisbury University, where he held an afternoon campaign rally.

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For most of the nation, presidential campaign politics are playing out in far-away places like Michigan, Florida, New Hampshire and Iowa as Republican candidates take turns eviscerating one another and swapping leads in the polls.

But do not despair, residents of the Free State. We have a sideshow of our very own, which is taking shape daily in Annapolis. It’s about the 2016 presidential race and Gov. Martin O’Malley’s apparent ambitions in that regard.

For some time now, the governor’s attempts to burnish his national profile while serving as head of the Democratic Governors Association have been the topic of conversations over coffee and cocktails in state political circles.

A popular pastime has been speculating what cabinet post the governor might go for — Homeland Security seems to rank high among the speculators – if President Obama wins a second term.

But now that speculation is spilling into public view, often accompanied by barbed rhetoric.

After Comptroller Peter Franchot assailed O’Malley’s proposal to raises taxes on gasoline as “an absolute punch to the gut of the middle class,” the governor responded by calling fellow Democrat Franchot “kind of our version of Mitt Romney.”

Franchot retorted, ”I’m sorry if I’m getting in the way of his presidential efforts, but I’m doing my job as comptroller.” (Interesting words from a man who is presumed to be running his own campaign for governor of Maryland.)

O’Malley was also pummeled with the p-word when he testified before two House committees in favor of his same-sex marriage bill, a popular issue with Democrats nationally.

The Washington Post reported that Del. Emmett C. Burns Jr., D-Baltimore County, a leading opponent of the bill, “suggested that O’Malley must want to match New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a fellow Democrat who helped pass a same-sex marriage bill last year and who, like O’Malley, has been talked about for national office in 2016.”

“I would love to see our governor as president of the United States, but not on the backs of his own people,” Burns said. Ouch.

So there you have it — presidential politics, Maryland style. And it’s just beginning.

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Gov. Martin O’Malley, the former mayor of Baltimore, mixed a little pigskin and politics Tuesday in advance of the Sunday’s playoff game between the Houston Texans and his hometown Ravens.

Governors and mayors from the states and cities from which playoff teams hail often make good-natured bets before games.

O’Malley said Tuesday he has reached out to Texas Gov. Rick Perry to agree on a wager.

“I had a hard time reaching him on the phone,” O’Malley joked.

Perry is also the former chairman of the Republican Governors Association, but left the post to Virginia’s Bob McDonnell when he launched his presidential bid. O’Malley heads the Democratic Governors Association.

Perry has been largely rendered a non-factor in the race after a weak showing in the Iowa caucuses.

“We’re putting out a bet to Rick Perry that the Ravens will score more points against the Texans than he gets in New Hampshire tonight,” O’Malley said, referring to the Granite State’s primary on Tuesday.

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Every four years, Baltimore City hogs the Election Day spotlight in Maryland by default. A alliance of community groups wants to change that.

The Baltimore Election Change Coalition will kick off its campaign Monday to sync the city’s election calendar with the state’s. Maryland elected delegates, senators and statewide officials, including the governor, in 2010.

Baltimore held its citywide elections last year.

The push to change the election cycle was prompted by “all-time low” voter turnout last year.

“Less than 12% of eligible voters participated in the primary; only 22% of registered voters voted. General election turnout was even worse,” the coalition statement read. “The BECC believes that having our City officials selected by so few voters with the expenditure of monies that the City needs in the current budget crisis calls for action now.”

The coalition wants Baltimore to join the other major jurisdictions in Maryland and hold its next citywide election in 2014 instead of 2015. (That would, of course, shorten the term for the mayor and city council by a year.)

“With more officials and issues on the ballot, more voters will turn out and democracy in Baltimore City will be strengthened. In addition, the City could potentially save several million dollars,” the coalition said.

The coalition consists of the Maryland chapter of the ACLU; Baltimore chapters of the NAACP and the League of Women Voters; Citizens Planning and Housing Association; National Action Network of Greater Baltimore; Baltimore’s Safe and Sound Campaign; and Teaching Our Own Understanding and Responsibility.

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Just about 24 hours after Gov. Martin O’Malley invited Lady Gaga to dinner, the governor’s staff was still waiting for the pop icon to RSVP.

O’Malley sent this tweet Monday: “.@LadyGaga thanks for your advocacy against bullying. Katie & I would like to invite you to dinner to discuss eliminating bullying in MD.”

Asked Monday afternoon if the governor had heard back, a spokeswoman replied, simply, “nothing yet.”

The governor and his wife, Katie O’Malley, are big anti-bullying advocates. The O’Malleys joined Facebook and Cartoon Network execs in October to kick off National Bullying Prevention Month.

(Check out the outtakes of the governor and first lady shooting an anti-bullying video here in which she chides him to “just stick to the script.” The governor is a chronic ad libber whose prepared remarks are rough approximations of what he could say, rather than scripts.)

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Updated 1:30 p.m.:

The Associated Press is reporting that Rep. Roscoe Bartlett’s chief of staff has stepped down from his post to run for the 6th Congressional District seat.

Bartlett, through a spokeswoman, however, said that he wants to hold on to the seat he’s held since 1993.

According to the AP, Harold “Bud” Otis, 73, said Thursday that his decision would depend largely on whether Bartlett stays in the race.

Maryland Senate Majority Leader Rob Garagiola, another 6th District hopeful, announced Thursday afternoon he has picked up the endorsement of Lt. Gov. Anthony G. Brown, a Democrat from Prince George’s County.

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That 6th Congressional District is getting awfully crowded.

Alex Mooney, chairman of the Maryland Republican Party, launched his exploratory committee for the seat Wednesday, officially filing paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission that will allow him to raise money.

Mooney, in a statement Thursday, said he will officially file as a candidate in January and relinquish his party post at that time.

A former state senator, Mooney is one of two and possibly three current and past members of the upper chamber eyeing the 6th seat.

Senate Majority Leader Rob Garagiola, D-Montgomery, has already launched his campaign and Sen. David R. Brinkley, R-Carroll and Frederick, has voiced his interest as well.

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John Delaney, the Montgomery County businessman behind Blueprint Maryland, is considering a run for the U.S. House of Representatives in the freshly redrawn 6th Congressional District.

Blueprint is Delaney’s roadmap to move Maryland beyond its dependence on federal largess.

“Old Maryland was about government jobs,” the Blueprint draft report states, “but the new Maryland’s job opportunities are still in question.”

Delaney has formed an exploratory committee to look into the congressional run and, not surprisingly, job creation is at the top of his would-be to do list.

“I’m convinced that if we stay focused on creating jobs, embrace ideas that put the middle class first and involve the public and private sector to get things done, we can make a positive difference in people’s lives,” Delaney said in a statement announcing his interest Monday. “The level of unemployed and underemployed in this country is tragic and is, by almost any measure, the most important issue of the day.”

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State Sen. Rob Garagiola hasn’t made it official, but the Montgomery County Democrat looks like he’s closer and closer to running for Congress.

The Senate Majority leader, along with a sizable chunk of Montgomery County’s Democratic voters, was drawn into the 6th Congressional District in the the map approved by the General Assembly last week.

The map was given final approval and signed by the governor Thursday. On Monday, Garagiola announced endorsements from Democratic state lawmakers. (The press release, by the way, says Garagiola is “seriously considering a run for Congress…”)

Garagiola’s support comes from four state senators — Jennie Forehand, Nancy King and Karen Montgomery, all of Montgomery County, and Sen. Ron Young, of Frederick and Washington counties.

He also picked up endorsements from 13 delegates, including House Majority Leader Kumar Barve and three Western Maryland Democrats: Galen Clagett, John Donoghue and Kevin Kelly.

“I am appreciative of the early support of so many of my colleagues,” Garagiola in a written statement. “I have heard from many state and local elected leaders, as well as others, who have urged me to run for Congress.”

The 6th District is now held by Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, who has been in office since 1993.

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