Why Martin O'Malley says he's not worried -- yet.LA Times [View all]

O’Malley insists it’s not the least bit concerning.


“It would be if I hadn’t been to this rodeo before,” he said Thursday during a two-day fund-raising swing through California. “I’ve seen candidates of substance and experience commit themselves to the long-haul marathon and campaign the way you have to campaign to succeed in the Iowa caucuses.”

He was referring to Gary Hart, the Democrat who played the role of handsome-face-of-a-new-generation back in 1984, laboring for months as an asterisk in polls until he placed an unexpectedly strong second in Iowa. That catapulted him into a fierce national race against the overwhelming establishment front-runner, Walter F. Mondale. O’Malley, 52, was a young foot soldier in Hart’s Iowa campaign.

“So having seen that before, it’s a little easier for me to have the faith to walk across these months,” a conspicuously jet-lagged O’Malley said as he gripped a paper cup from Starbucks. . .

The difference from other Democrats, O’Malley says repeatedly, is his unmatched executive experience as Baltimore mayor, from December 1999 to January 2007, followed by eight years as Maryland governor.

“Not only do I make progressive promises, but I’m the only candidate in our field who’s actually accomplished progressive things, progressive results,” he told reporters after participating in a high-minded panel discussion on tech and civic engagement.


As governor, he showed a wonky passion for statistics-driven policy — using number-crunching formulas to fight crime, tame Maryland’s bureaucracy and clean up Chesapeake Bay — and compiled a record of unswerving liberal activism: raising taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents, banishing the death penalty, toughening gun laws, raising the minimum wage and approving same-sex marriage.

O’Malley’s eager to discuss all of that and more on a debate stage, face to face with Clinton, at the first party-sanctioned forum Oct. 13 in Las Vegas.

“Let's hope they don't put it in an undisclosed hangar in Area 51,” he said, dryly.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-omalley-2016-20150821-story.html