"All my life I have made an effort to be a coalition builder, a bridge-builder between the communities of Baltimore," he said.

He is married, has three adult children and describes himself as "a results guy, a coalition builder."

What the party needs is not a theorist but a skilled coalition builder and a great communicator.

They were more akin to the machine politicians we know today than to the noble coalition builders and power-brokers who preceded them.

"I've had to be a consensus achiever and coalition builder," he said.

A majority leader is a horse trader, a coalition builder, an inside man.

"I have proven that I am a coalition builder."

His daughter said he would be remembered as a coalition builder.

"By instinct, I'm a big coalition builder," he said.

"He is a coalition builder, a problem solver and a team strategist."