Nov. 3--The video, lovingly promoted by Maryland Republicans, has gotten nearly 4,000 hits on YouTube. It's a 2006 ad for the successful gubernatorial campaign of Martin O'Malley.

"How did this happen?" says the somber voice-over guy, as images of electricity hardware fill the screen. "An increase in utility rates, costing consumers and seniors while energy companies make record profits? The special interests already have their governor. We need one of our own -- Martin O'Malley, taking on BG and E to stop the rate hikes. ..."

You can't say O'Malley didn't try. Today Baltimore Gas and Electric electricity prices are even higher than they were in 2006, as his critics like to point out.

But since he took office the governor has gone after BGE's parent again and again to obtain one-time rebates for household customers, stop future surcharges and protect BGE from financial trauma.

In a day when politicians forget about campaign pledges the day after the election and expect voters do the same, give O'Malley credit for trying to keep a bargain.

Also conclude that he realized this was an issue that wouldn't disappear. Certainly his Republican election rival next year -- whoever that turns out to be -- won't be shy about mentioning BGE.

But in his latest salvo O'Malley overreached and offered new ammunition for critics to portray Maryland as off-kilter when it comes to business regulation.

In fact, Maryland's reputation of being difficult for business is frequently exaggerated. But when the governor backs out of a deal with one of the state's biggest companies and prompts financial analysts to compare Maryland to communist China on a widely heard conference call, it may not be worth $100.

That's how much BGE parent Constellation Energy has to credit each BGE household as part of its deal to expand its nuclear energy partnership with the French EDF Group. A hundred bucks is about 6 percent of a typical BGE family's annual electricity bill.

Last year BGE customers got a $170 rebate as part of a previous settlement. In that deal, O'Malley and his Public Service Commission tried to revisit the disastrous 1999 deregulation that freed BGE's generation plants from PSC control.

Of course the state couldn't re-regulate the plants. Or make Constellation refund the nearly $1 billion in "stranded costs" that BGE customers had to pay after the generators were deregulated.