[img_assist|nid=3964|title=|desc=U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski |link=none|align=left|width=180|height=250]ANNAPOLIS -- U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Baltimore) says Democrat Frank Kratovil's Congressional campaign is going very well.

"I think Frank's message of moderation, a sense of a centrist is catching on," Mikulski told PolitickerMD.com at the Westin Hotel on Monday. She also noted that Kratovil's focus on jobs, the economy, and immigration "is working very well."

Kratovil, the Queen Anne's County state's Attorney, is currently running against Republican Andy Harris, a state Senator from Cockeysville for Maryland's 1st Congressional District seat. Mikulski, who was first elected in 1986, has campaigned with Kratovil a number of times on the eastern and western shore within the past few weeks.

The 1st District trends Republican, but has an independent bent and registered Democrats hold a small lead. The seat's current occupant, Congressman Wayne Gilchrest (R-Kennedyville), was defeated by Harris in the February primary, but endorsed Kratovil over the summer.

Mikulski praised Gilchrest, who was also present at the Westin Hotel Monday in order to receive the Maryland League of Conservation Voters' prestigious John V. Kabler Memorial Award.

"These awards are very, very well deserved," Mikulski said of Gilchrest and former state Sen. Bernie Fowler (D-Prince George's County), who received the Special Lifetime Achievement Award. "We worked as part of the League of Conservation Voters really to keep the environment on the legislative agenda and the agenda of what's going on in politics," Mikulski said. "And then to support two people of different parties who are moderates, but could work on a bi-partisan basis to save the bay. And I think we need more of that."