First impression: O'Malley's quiet campaign needs to turn up volume.
Des Moines Register editorial 'Martin O’Malley may be running a distant third in his bid for the Democratic nomination for president, but he’s not about to change his message to voters simply to rack up higher polling numbers.
“I have demonstrated time and time again that while I am no good at taking advice from pollsters, I am very clear about my principles,” the former Maryland governor told the Des Moines Register’s editorial board last week. “I know what I believe in, and I’m willing to fight and willing to throw myself into the center of this discussion in order to get things done.”
It’s one version of a recurring theme in the O’Malley campaign in which he attempts to portray one of his primary opponents, Hillary Clinton, as an opportunist who stakes out her position on issues only after determining which way the political winds are blowing.
For a 52-year-old man who plays guitar, writes songs and occasionally sings lead in a Celtic rock band, O’Malley seems most comfortable when he’s talking about public policy. He does so while speaking in a deliberate, measured fashion that some call professorial and others call wooden.
To his detractors, it’s a sign that O’Malley lacks the ability to energize a crowd, unlike Clinton and his other Democratic opponent, Bernie Sanders. To his supporters, it’s a sign he’s more substance than style.
Either way, the former prosecutor has his work cut out for him. Although he has spent more time in Iowa than either of his rivals, O’Malley continues to lag far behind Clinton and Sanders not just in Iowa, but nationally. Still, he says, he’s not concerned.
“The beautiful thing about the people of Iowa is they are not intimidated by polls, not intimidated by money and not intimidated with the talking heads in D.C. who say, ‘This is the way to vote.’ I think we are very well poised to surprise people.”
O’Malley addresses difficult questions directly, without the qualifiers or evasiveness favored by some politicians, but he doesn’t resort to sound-bite attacks on his opponents or their character. In seeking to set himself apart from Clinton and Sanders, he often points to his eight years as governor of Maryland and seven years as mayor of Baltimore.
“I am the one candidate in this Democratic primary now that has executive elected experience,” he said. “Those years were marked not by words, but by actions — actions that raised the minimum wage, actions that passed marriage equality, the Dream Act and comprehensive gun-safety legislation before there was a consensus to do those things.”
When it comes to federal regulation of guns, O’Malley has called for launching universal background checks; banning combat assault weapons; using the federal government’s buying power to insist that manufacturers use new technology to help track guns and ammunition; making it a federal offense to traffic in illegal guns; and eliminating gun dealers’ immunity from civil lawsuits.
“All of this is going to require leaders who have the backbone to stand up to the National Rifle Association,” he said. “I have demonstrated that leadership.”
In the area of criminal justice reform, O’Malley said he’d like to see the possession of small amounts of marijuana decriminalized — although he’s not ready to support legalizing the recreational use of marijuana. “I’m open to it,” he said. “I’m not there yet. I could get there. I don’t think we have had enough time with Colorado and Washington state to know (the effect).”
While talking about the need for immigration reform, O'Malley is more animated. He said that although some GOP candidates are making headway with voters by demonizing immigrants, he believes the next president of the United States can lead the nation in establishing a more inclusive society.
He pointed out that it was only recently that Democrats staged their first debate of the season, long after the crowded field of Republicans held their first debate.
“The truth can damn well defend herself, but she needs to be stated first,” he said. “While (the Republicans) were running roughshod, and they had the whole field to themselves, whipping it up on immigrant hate and ‘the other,’ we were silent. And that’s on us.”
O'Malley deserves credit for the forthright manner in which he discusses issues and for the positive tone of his overall message. But he's waging a campaign that has yet to gain traction with potential voters, and time is running out. If the so-called "rock-n-roll governor" wants to change the hearts and minds of Iowa voters, he's going to have to turn up the volume.'
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/editorials/caucus/2015/11/05/first-impression-omalleys-quiet-campaign-needs-turn-up-volume/75159606/
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