# Martin O'Malley for President thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 31, 2015, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-omalley-for-president-thread/721241 "2015-05-31T05:33:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-omalley-for-president-thread/721241/21 "2015-06-01T11:51:24Z")
He’s trying too hard to make himself known. The opening speech about the presidency not being a crown to be passed between two royal families was a bit over the top. The Clintons both have middle class roots and are hardly a royal family like the Bushes might be considered. Then he says that unlike Bernie Sanders, he has a record of getting things done. Way too sharp an attack for this early on. Dial it back, Marty. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-omalley-for-president-thread/721241/22 "2015-06-01T15:03:03Z")
I’m glad to see that a real challenger has finally entered the race. I’ll be following him now. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-omalley-for-president-thread/721241/23 "2015-06-01T15:32:34Z")
I like what I’ve seen of O’Malley so far. Seems like a smart, capable, articulate technocrat who did some good in Baltimore and Annapolis. I agree he’s running for President, not VP, and is hoping to be the un-Hillary. I think he’s got a much better shot than Bernie Sanders, who has insisted his entire political career that he’s not even a Democrat. Here’s more on O’Malley: > **[Martin O'Malley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_O%27Malley)** > > Martin Joseph O'Malley (born January 18, 1963) is an American lawyer and former politician who served as the 61st Governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 48th Mayor of Baltimore from 1999 to 2007. > O'Malley was elected mayor of Baltimore in 1999 after a surprise win in the Democratic primary. As mayor, O'Malley prioritized reducing crime within the city. He was reelected in 2004. O'Malley won the 2006 gubernatorial election, defeating incumbent Rep... [http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/may\_june\_2013/features/should\_martin\_omalley\_be\_presi044513.php?page=all](http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/may_june_2013/features/should_martin_omalley_be_presi044513.php?page=all) > **[The progressive executive: How Martin O'Malley plans to run for president](https://www.salon.com/2015/02/03/the_progressive_executive_how_martin_omalley_plans_to_run_for_president/)** > > Former Maryland governor woos Democrats by touting list of liberal accomplishments > **[A long-shot bid in 2016 may suit Martin O’Malley](https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/if-he-runs-for-president-in-2016-martin-omalley-will-again-be-an-underdog/2014/09/15/d67dccce-39f0-11e4-bdfb-de4104544a37_story.html)** > > It wouldn’t be the first time the Maryland governor had been the underdog candidate. > **["A lot of us are disappointed and angry": Martin O’Malley sounds off to Salon](https://www.salon.com/2015/03/13/a_lot_of_us_are_disappointed_and_angry_martin_o%e2%80%99malley_makes_his_case_to_salon/)** > > Potential presidential candidate talks Elizabeth Warren, middle class -- and why some Democrats are "victimcrats" > **[Will Martin O’Malley be Hillary Clinton's undoing in 2016 presidential race?](https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/mar/12/martin-omalley-profile-2016-presidential-nomination-clinton)** > > The former Maryland governor and liberal Democrat may be the pronounced underdog, but he has faced tough odds before and won > **[We Are Capable of More](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/we-are-capable-of-more_b_7179780)** > > This is not just about policing. Not just about race. It is about the country we are allowing ourselves to become and the affront it is to the country we are meant to be. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TIKYi5JWWM) ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-omalley-for-president-thread/721241/24 "2015-06-01T16:18:31Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Policing practices that reduced crime are nothing to be ashamed of. Is there any evidence at all that such policing practices lead to the kind of police abuse that’s at issue? There is scant evidence that O’Malley’s police policies accomplished anything other than needless harassment and abuse of Baltimore’s black population while gaming the crime stats. He even went back to the previous mayor’s term and reclassified crimes from misdemeanors to felonies so he could show a bigger drop in the crime stats. O’Malley waged the drug war as aggressively as anyone else, with all of the predictable consequences of declaring war on your citizens–not least of all frayed police-community relations, police seeing citizens as the enemy, and all the use of force tactics that the drug war brought with it. On top of the typical drug war bullshit of stop-and-frisk, trivial car stops, no-knock raids, civil asset forfeiture, and all the rest, O’Malley’s unique twist was to add tactics of mass arrests without probable cause (ultimately found to be unconstitutional, naturally). If you don’t think illegally rounding up hundreds of citizens every night so you can show voters you’re tough on crime will breed resentment and problem in police-community relations, you’re crazy. Those policies and the violence they lead to are, more than anything else, the \*casus belli \*of the black lives matter movement. This stuff is going to matter in 2016. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-omalley-for-president-thread/721241/25 "2015-06-01T17:48:34Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > All of the Democratic interest groups only get you about 35% of the vote. “All of the Democratic interest groups” make up considerably more than 35% of the population. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-omalley-for-president-thread/721241/26 "2015-06-01T17:59:05Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Policing practices that reduced crime are nothing to be ashamed of. According to David Simon, [they didn’t reduce crime. They just fudged the numbers.](http://davidsimon.com/the-bad-math/) > [@David Simon](#): > > But incredibly, because the trend was in no way consistent with a rising murder rate, the city’s assault rate nose-dived dramatically, falling by more than 25 percent. Yes, in the fourth year of Martin O’Malley’s mayoralty, suddenly and inexplicably, the victim of an assault in Baltimore, Maryland was more than 25 percent more likely to die from that assault. Moreover, while the murder rate would continue to climb modestly for the remainder of O’Malley’s years at City Hall, the numbers of recorded assault would never again approach those of prior years, eventually reaching a dramatic low during the last year of Mr. O’Malley’s tenure, finishing a full 30 percent below the assault rate recorded even in 2000, when he achieved his most substantial improvement in the murder rate. In that same period, the murder rate, did not fall by 30 percent. It rose by 6 percent. The only crime statistic you can trust is the murder rate, because you can’t hide the bodies. Any thing else can just be discarded as “unfounded” or filed as a lesser charge. In the same link, he has an on-record quote from the police commissioner hired by O’Malley saying that it is acceptable to consider reports of a shooting as “unfounded”, despite the fact that there are victims with bullet wounds. And all this with falling arrest numbers. Because, of course, most of the arrests weren’t documented either. As long as you don’t count civil rights violations committed by the police as crime, I guess it’s fairly rosy. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-omalley-for-president-thread/721241/27 "2015-06-01T18:29:36Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > “All of the Democratic interest groups” make up considerably more than 35% of the population. Hey! He just said so, you even quoted it! May be some flexibility in the “about” 35%… ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-omalley-for-president-thread/721241/28 "2015-06-01T22:21:52Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > “All of the Democratic interest groups” make up considerably more than 35% of the population. African-Americans, public employee unions, environmentalists, social liberals, economic liberals, Jews, gays, single women. Yup, about 35%. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-omalley-for-president-thread/721241/29 "2015-06-02T00:21:52Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > If you want to see a GOP candidate win 80% of the white vote …they’ll have to run someone with positions that aren’t considered absolute nonstarters by more than 20%. Good luck getting through the primaries after declaring “eh, two guys or two gals getting married, BFD” and then proceeding to the _really_ hard hurdles… ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-omalley-for-president-thread/721241/31 "2015-06-02T11:46:43Z")
> [@Dr.Loveless](#): > > Martin can serve as a reminder to Dems what happens when you vote for the Dems election after election > > Dems have run Baltimore for over 40 years and yet we here how “poor” the folks are and how jobs are needed > > Well, what the he@@ have Dems been doing? Oh, they have bellowed about climate change, same sex marriage, raising taxes to fund the welfare programs, and rights for illegals > > Meanwhile the people that put them office continue to keep them in power thinking that maybe one day the Dems will give them a good living > > The updated definition of insanity is voting for Democrats thinking they will improve your life and you will not have to do it yourself Oh, if only life was as simple as it appears from the right wing. Here’s reality. Urban areas vote Democratic because their natural constituencies live primarily in urban areas. Union workers, civil servants, college students, minorities, etc. Quite naturally, Democrats win a lot of mayoral races. That doesn’t mean that the needs of these groups can be adequately addressed merely by the presence of a Democratic mayor. Cities are often stymied by state and federal governments that are disproportionately represented by Republican and rural interests- your gun nuts, hayseeds, rednecks, hillbillies, anti-science folks, conspiracy theorists, racists, bigots, and so on. As long as the state and federal governments are controlled by groups hostile to urban issues, these issues will be more difficult to address. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-omalley-for-president-thread/721241/32 "2015-06-02T15:19:50Z")
A new poll is bad news for Hillary, and may be good news for O’Malley: [http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/02/politics/hillary-clinton-2016-poll-gop-field-close/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/02/politics/hillary-clinton-2016-poll-gop-field-close/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-omalley-for-president-thread/721241/33 "2015-06-02T15:55:45Z")
> [@iamthewalrus\_3](#): > > The only crime statistic you can trust is the murder rate, because you can’t hide the bodies. Any thing else can just be discarded as “unfounded” or filed as a lesser charge. That can be fudged. If you find a dead body and are 90% sure that it was homicide (but not 100% sure), it can be classified as a death by unknown causes rather than a murder. Or if someone’s killed in the process of another crime (like a carjacking, for example), there’s a way to classify it as an accidental death. Also, while I’m sure Martin O’Malley fudged the numbers, I would hardly hold it against him specifically. The government withholds grant money if you can’t demonstrate that grant money from previous years has resulted in a decrease in crime rates. It’s not a problem with him so much as a problem with the larger system. ---
**Author:** ![tonyfop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/85f322/32.png) [@tonyfop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tonyfop)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-omalley-for-president-thread/721241/34 "2015-06-02T16:03:53Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Oh, if only life was as simple as it appears from the right wing. > > Here’s reality. Urban areas vote Democratic because their natural constituencies live primarily in urban areas. Union workers, civil servants, college students, minorities, etc. Quite naturally, Democrats win a lot of mayoral races. That doesn’t mean that the needs of these groups can be adequately addressed merely by the presence of a Democratic mayor. Cities are often stymied by state and federal governments that are disproportionately represented by Republican and rural interests- your gun nuts, hayseeds, rednecks, hillbillies, anti-science folks, conspiracy theorists, racists, bigots, and so on. As long as the state and federal governments are controlled by groups hostile to urban issues, these issues will be more difficult to address. Except that we are talking about Maryland, the 2nd Bluest State in the union, which has the worst gerrymandering of all Blue states to ensure that only one Congressional District goes Republican. Maryland is Democrat central, and yet Governor O’Malley’s hand picked successor lost to a Republican by almost 5 points. You don’t think that that shows, if not dissatisfaction with, at least ambivalence towards the governor’s leadership? State-wide, voter turnout dropped almost 2 million between the gubernatorial elections of 2010 and 2014, and in the City of Baltimore, Democrat votes dropped by 25%, while Republican votes stayed level. If O’Malley runs, he might not win his home state! ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-omalley-for-president-thread/721241/35 "2015-06-02T16:17:16Z")
I’m not worried about any Dem candidate carrying Maryland. I’m also not worried about O’Malley getting the nomination. He’s running for veep and/or 2020/2024. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-omalley-for-president-thread/721241/36 "2015-06-02T17:45:16Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I’m not worried about any Dem candidate carrying Maryland. I’m also not worried about O’Malley getting the nomination. He’s running for veep and/or 2020/2024. I know Hillary is the favorite but I don’t get why so many people assume O’Malley isn’t serious about wanting to be the nominee in 2016. There are plenty of past examples where the presumed nominee faltered and a person who was not well known on the national level ended up getting the nomination. Considering that and the consistently high unfavorable ratings for Clinton and it makes sense an individual with ambitions for the Oval Office would challenge her. I also don’t get why so many people think it would make sense to “run for VP” if you have Presidential ambitions. I can get the argument a candidate might jump in to raise their public profile for a future run but accepting the Veep position has never been a good path to the Presidency. Since 1900 only two people, Nixon and Bush I, were able to translate serving as VP into winning election outright to the Presidency. TR, Coolidge, Truman and Johnson had already succeeded to the office when they ran for it. And as I mentioned in post #12, only one person has ever been the VP nominee on a losing ticket (FDR) who later ran successfully for the office. Having served as a Governor or member of Congress is the surest way to get to the White House. I haven’t looked at the numbers but being a Cabinet member or Ambassador would probably serve a person’s Presidential ambitions better than being Vice President. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-omalley-for-president-thread/721241/37 "2015-06-02T17:50:22Z")
I think O’Malley’s taking the long view. He knows he can’t win in 2016, but if he finishes a respectable second or third he’ll get the name recognition or, even better, get tapped for veep. He knows if Hillary wins in 2016, the stable of big name Dems in 2020 or 2024 isn’t that large and he might as well start making a name for himself now. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-omalley-for-president-thread/721241/38 "2015-06-02T18:44:53Z")
To get to that point, that far out, he needs a Cabinet post or Senate seat in the meanwhile, if he’s not VP. A campaign that makes him look good but doesn’t damage HRC puts him in good stead to achieve any one of those. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2015, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-omalley-for-president-thread/721241/39 "2015-06-02T20:03:48Z")
> [@](#): > > He knows if Hillary wins in 2016, the stable of big name Dems in 2020 or 2024 isn’t that large and he might as well start making a name for himself now. Surely, if Hillary wins in 2016, then the Dem stable in 2020 will be completely full. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-omalley-for-president-thread/721241/40 "2015-06-03T00:38:33Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Oh, if only life was as simple as it appears from the right wing. > > Here’s reality. Urban areas vote Democratic because their natural constituencies live primarily in urban areas. Union workers, civil servants, college students, minorities, etc. Quite naturally, Democrats win a lot of mayoral races. That doesn’t mean that the needs of these groups can be adequately addressed merely by the presence of a Democratic mayor. Cities are often stymied by state and federal governments that are disproportionately represented by Republican and rural interests- your gun nuts, hayseeds, rednecks, hillbillies, anti-science folks, conspiracy theorists, racists, bigots, and so on. As long as the state and federal governments are controlled by groups hostile to urban issues, these issues will be more difficult to address. Ohhh it was the hillbillies and 'em who raised property taxes in the city and the anti-science folks who drove a once great school system into the ground. I’ll let you guess the state of science education in Baltimore City right now. It was the bigots who have been throwing young black men in cages? And I guess the racists in Annapolis have been keeping them out of work with the minimum wage. The gun nuts over at HUD take the responsibility for the erected, then demolished projects and the subsequent dispersal of crime throughout the East and West side. I’d blame the rednecks for building the interstates, and subsidizing the subsequent suburban sprawl that is the real reason for urban decay, but I’ll leave that for the conspiracy theorists. If it wasn’t for those murdering hayseeds who made Rawlings-Blake and 'em kill Freddie Gray for a pen-knife, we wouldn’t have seen the destruction of every liquor store from Park Heights to Station North. I swear every doper is a suburban Iowan who watches too much tv. I never see them out Mondawmin. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2015, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-omalley-for-president-thread/721241/41 "2015-06-03T01:01:51Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > I swear every doper is a suburban Iowan who watches too much tv. I never see them out Mondawmin. If it was football season, I’d be right offended at being mistaken for an Iowan. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-omalley-for-president-thread/721241.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/martin-omalley-for-president-thread/721241.md?page=3)