With the question of what Hillary Clinton is going to do still up in the air, many potential Democratic candidates are sitting on the sidelines and being rather quiet about their intentions in the 2016 Presidential race. The same cannot be said for Maryland’s Democratic Governor:
MILWAUKEE — Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, speaking candidly to a group of reporters Saturday, said he has spent the last several months weighing a bid for the presidency and laying what he called the “framework of a candidacy for 2016.”
O’Malley last spoke at length about his presidential ambitions in April, when he toldThe Baltimore Sun he would give “serious consideration” to a White House race as he rounds out what will be his second and last term as governor of Maryland.
Asked how that process has been going so far, O’Malley said, “It’s going well.”
He described a handful of recent speeches as the conduit through which he has been able to present his national policy beliefs to a wider audience. “[I’ve] given a number of talks: the commencement at St. Mary’s College, the climate change talk, the Center for American Progress,” he said.
“So by the end of this year, I think we’re on course to have a body of work that lays the framework of a candidacy for 2016,” said O’Malley, who is here in Wisconsin this weekend for the National Governors Association summer meeting.
The governor also highlighted his political action committee — named, “O’ Say Can You See PAC” — that this week reported raising more than $500,000 in the first six months of the year.
“Another part of the work is the PAC and the work that we’re doing to help elect like-minded candidates,” he said. “And also to the work that comes from increasing our activity online and social media — I mean, all of these things are part of that process.”
In all honestly, I can’t say that O’Malley has distinguished himself to any great degree as Governor of Maryland. The state’s economy isn’t exactly booming, although the recent introduction of casino gambling around the state has apparently been quite a boon for both jobs and state tax revenues. On the whole, I’m not entirely sure then what O’Malley brings to the race regardless of whether Hillary runs or not. To a large degree, he may end up representing the more “progressive” side of the Democratic base, but it seems hard to conceive of him as the nominee, especially if Hillary runs.
