O'Malley said he was recruited to join the DLC soon after he was elected mayor three years ago. He said that although he enjoys debating strategy with the organization, he doesn't subscribe to all the positions of its leadership.

He said he made clear his differences in discussions that included leaders such as Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut and Evan Bayh of Indiana and focused on what the council calls the "battle over the soul of the Democratic Party."

O'Malley is neither an "old" nor a "new" Democrat. He's of a younger generation than the baby boomers who dominate the Democratic Party and founded the DLC. As his supporters often point out, O'Malley is a post-civil rights era Democrat who is not replaying the riots of 1968 in his mind and is not locked into the racial and ideological clashes of that period.

"O'Malley is very difficult to categorize," said Carol Arscott, an Annapolis-based pollster. "His opposition to the death penalty clearly doesn't fit into the DLC mold."