Mayor Martin O'Malley (search) likened the cuts in President Bush's budget proposal for urban areas to the Sept. 11 (search) attacks, drawing fire from his fellow Democrats as well as Republicans.

The mayor, who is weighing a bid for governor in 2006 and is considered a rising star within the Democratic Party, was among a group of mayors and other local officials who held a news conference Tuesday in Washington to criticize the president's proposal to cut spending for community development programs by $2 billion.

"Back on September 11, terrorists attacked our metropolitan cores, two of America's great cities. They did that because they knew that was where they could do the most damage and weaken us the most," O'Malley said. "Years later, we are given a budget proposal by our commander in chief, the president of the United States. And with a budget ax, he is attacking America's cities. He is attacking our metropolitan core."

Montgomery County, Md., Executive Douglas M. Duncan said O'Malley "went way too far."