… and then something conspicuously and politically surreptitious happened.

The transparency of the Democrat’s big picture targeting is brutally obvious. It has long been rumored that former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley might just be the greatest threat to a Hillary Clinton bid for the 2016 Democrat presidential nomination.

Why,… it was just yesterday the New York Times highlighted O’Malley’s progressive bona fides, and a veiled shot at Dame Hillary.

[NYT]  Martin O’Malley, the former Maryland governor who is likely to seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2016, took a veiled shot at a potential rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, in a speech in South Carolina on Saturday, criticizing the politics of “triangulation” that have historically been associated with the Clintons.

“The most fundamental power of our party and our country is the power of our moral principles,” Mr. O’Malley said, according to a transcript of his remarks provided by an aide.

[…] “Triangulation is not a strategy that will move America forward. History celebrates profiles in courage, not profiles in convenience.”  (link)

Then today, something politically surreptitious happened which might just change the angle of O’Malley’s approach:

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) announced her retirement on Monday, setting off a scramble among Democrats to succeed her in the Senate.

[…] and former Gov. Martin O’Malley, who could choose a Senate run over a long-shot bid for president in 2016. (link)