Politics colors budget debate

Gov. Martin O'Malley and members of his administration typically don't say former Republican Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s name in public, but the political rival has recently popped up in spirit as a measurement for budget decisions.

For years, Democrats and Republicans have sparred over the semantics and long-term meaning of budget moves, such as whether lowering a projected spending increase can be called a "cut" and if the administration's alterations are simply papering over a deficit problem.

To bolster the case for having taken real action lately, O'Malley and others have been comparing this...