Maryland Marriage Equality Update with Martin O'Malley and Michael Steele: VIDEO

Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley appears in a new ad for Question 6 in Maryland.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

And David Mixner reports on some ugly campaigning from the GOP there:

In Maryland millions of voters will go to the polls tomorrow to vote marriage equality up and down. It is very close.

On the same ballot is a statewide version of the "Dream Act" and a measure to build another casino in Maryland. Besides marriage, I am huge supporter of the Dream Act and until yesterday couldn't have cared less about the casinos.

That is not the case any more.

This weekend former GOP National Chair Michael Steele sent out a slate to all Republicans (it was NOT the official Republican slate) and asked them to vote yes for the casino and AGAINST marriage equality and the Dream Act. This slate was financed by interests from the casinos.

The love you and then hurt you approach simply won't work for us anymore.

Every LGBT voter in Maryland, every supporter who cares about our rights, and every person who believes in honesty and decency should - when they go to the polls in Maryland tomorrow -  vote NO on the casinos and YES for marriage equality and the Dream Act.

The LGBT community must not be jerked around anymore and I urge you to send a powerful message. If you live outside the state but know Maryland voters call them and pass on the message.

A Maryland Marriage Equality Update: VIDEO

Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley speaks up for marriage equality in a new video for The Four, the group recently launched to facilitate pro-equality ballot measures in Maryland, Minnesota, Maine, and Washington.

"The flipside of freedom of religion is the freedom of individual conscience," O'Malley says in the clip.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

O'Malley also announced on Wednesday that he'll be joining Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo for a 'Monday Night Football' fundraiser for marriage equality next month. Ayanbadejo's hosting the party on October 8, and Marylanders for Marriage Equality is holding a drawing to join the NFL player open to anyone who makes a donation to the campaign.

Meanwhile, polling for marriage equality in Maryland is looking strong:

“I think we’re looking pretty strong, but the other side has yet to put on their onslaught of commercials and fear and division,” Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley told HuffPost Gay Voices at a star-studded New York fundraiser for the cause of marriage equality in Maryland, where a marriage equality bill the governor signed goes to the voters this fall. “Right now in the polling we're running about 53% and those that are opposed to marriage equality in Maryland are at around 38, 39%. So we need to shore that up and push the truth that no child’s home should be denied equal protection under the law.”

Voters should be aware that a vote FOR 'Question 6' is a vote for marriage equality.

DNC Speeches: Julián Castro, Ted Strickland, Deval Patrick and Martin O'Malley - VIDEOS

A few of tonight's speakers preceding First Lady Michelle Obama's fantastic speech.

Here is the keynote from San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro, along with speeches from Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, and former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland.

Building The War Chest For Marriage Equality In Maryland

Last week, Marylanders for Marriage Equality announced an almost impossibly star-studded fundraising banquet to be held on September 13th. The guest list: Susan Sarandon, Sean Avery, Barbara Bush, Josh Charles, Thom Browne, Andy Cohen, Tom Colicchio, Julianne Moore, Edward Norton, Hilary Rhoda, Russell Simmons, John Waters, Sarah Jessica Parker, Julianna Margulies, Keith Lieberthall, Cornelia Guest, Kathleen Keener, Paul Boskind, Tonio Burgos, Brian Ellner, Ryan Greenwalt, Charles Myers, Ken Mehlman, Charles John O'Byrne, Larry Poston, David Rabin, Johnny Swet, and Maryland's Governor Martin O'Malley (pictured right). Wow!

The banquet's venue isn't in Maryland, probably because it's easier to move the banquet to its various VIPs than to move all the VIPs to Maryland. It's in SoHo, in Manhattan: the extraordinary James Hotel. Tix run from $250 a head to $25,000 for a top-shelf sponsorship package.

In November, Maryland may become the first state in the country to affirm marriage equality in a ballot referendum. Along with Maine and Washington, it'll be the first state to put marriage to the vote since Barack Obama and the NAACP came out in favor of equality. From the New York Times:

"The two biggest factors for us this year are that it’s 2012, and public attitudes have continued to evolve,” said Josh Levin, the director of Marylanders for Marriage Equality. “When the president talked about how his position has evolved over the course of some years, there are a lot of people for whom that’s the case.”

The ballot language will also be different in Maryland. In the other 32 states where voters have been asked about the issue, the referendum question was phrased so that a vote in favor of the measure was a vote to reject same-sex marriage. In Maryland, ballots will ask the question in the affirmative and will explain that there will be an exemption for religious groups.

Eight Added to Speaker Roster at Democratic National Convention

Eight new leaders have been added to the list of those speaking at this year's Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, CNN reports:

Added Monday were Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who served as President Barack Obama's chief of staff for the first two years of his presidency; Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who won the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination; Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, chair of the Democratic Governors Association, and former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, who acted as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee and is running for U.S. Senate.

Also on the list: Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper.

As I noted earlier, San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro is slated to deliver the keynote address, and former President Bill Clinton is set to enter Obama's name into nomination.

The convention convenes in two weeks.

Rachel Maddow Talks to Maryland Governor O'Malley About Marriage Equality, Ballot Measures: VIDEO

Rachel Maddow interviewed Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley last night in an extended segment on the recent marriage equality victories around the country and the ballot referendums which are challenging them, including information on a recent Maryland poll that shows voters split on the marriage equality issue.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Meanwhile, the AP reports on the election year showdowns on marriage equality in North Carolina, Minnesota, Maryland, Maine and Washington state and the "bruising battle" underway.

"It's crunch time," said Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage, the paramount fundraiser for opponents of gay marriage. "We view it as a massive opportunity for a national referendum."

Brown predicts same-sex marriage will be rebuffed in all five states, while gay-marriage supporters hope they can score at least a few victories and break a long losing streak. Since 1998, 31 states have had ballot measures related to same-sex marriage, and in every state the opponents ended up prevailing.

However, the most recent vote was in 2009. Gay-rights activists believe public opinion is moving inexorably in their direction, citing both national polls and policy developments such as repeal of the ban on gays serving openly in the military.