Is Md. Gov. Martin O’Malley running for president or not?

[madinmaryland]

Monica McCarthy was at Sen. Tom Harkin’s annual steak fry in September, a big Iowa Democratic shindig, and she remembers the featured speaker, the governor of Maryland, the handsome guy in blue jeans who gave her an autograph.

His speech was pleasant enough, recalled McCarthy, chairwoman of Iowa’s Union County Democratic Party, but could have used “some polish.”

Maryland’s governor is seeking to raise his visibility for 2016, but he’s still unknown to many party stalwarts. “He needs fire in the belly if he wants to be president,” she said.

What was his name again?

“Deval Patrick? .?.?.” McCarthy said, mistakenly invoking the Massachusetts governor. “Oh damn .?.?. Mike McNally? An Irish name?”

His name is Martin O’Malley, and he hasn’t said much about what he’ll do when his term as Maryland’s governor expires in two years, even as pundits and politicos have promoted him as a presidential contender in 2016.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/is-md-gov-martin-omalley-running-for-president-or-not/2013/02/21/0c3a7bf8-75f0-11e2-aa12-e6cf1d31106b_story.html?hpid=z3

[Mass]

1. I hope he is. But it is true he needs to improve his speaking ability.

I was not overwhelmed at the Convention either.

This said, it is way too early for this.

[treestar]

4. As long as he doesn't take a sip of water mid-speech

It's probably good enough

Agreed it is too early

[FSogol]

5. He's an great speaker. Sounds like you're judging him on a poor convention appearance.

Check him out here: http://tinyurl.com/bblg42q

[Mass]

7. He is very good on these types of settings, I agree.

But the only speech I have heard of him was the Convention speech. I would be happy to see speeches where he was great. Short of Deval Patrick running, which is not going to happen, he is one of my favorites.

[FSogol]

8. I think O'Malley will end up the VP candidate for Hillary or Biden.

But I hate speculating before the 2014 mid terms.

[CTyankee]

29. Could be his strategy. Makes sense. He's really nice looking and has done a good job

governing MD. It wouldn't look bad to be running with Hillary as HER VP. It would be an exciting match-up, esp. to lots of women. I'd be thrilled to see him up there with her...

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

13. He does a better job one-on-one going after Republicans. He's not the greatest speaker

before crowds. He has, however, been an outstanding governor.

[itsrobert]

2. I hope not

He was not that effective speaker at the Democratic Convention. He stunk it up on the Sunday talk shows, I recall.

[madinmaryland]

9. Being in Maryland for the last ten years, I have been following our Governor for some

time. Even though the speech he gave at the DC was not his best, he has been very outspoken on traditional democratic party values.

[Raine1967]

28. He's a great Dem

But I'm more concerned about the 2014 mid-terms.

That said, if he can do for the country what he is doing for Maryland... I'm in.

[treestar]

3. Does he have to decide right now?

Whatever his speaking ability it, likely it's better than that of what the clown car will produce.

I haven't heard him speak but reading some things he said impressed me.

[FSogol]

6. See post #5. Video of him with VA Repub Gov Bob McDonnell. n/t

[treestar]

10. Seems fine to me

Then again, I thought Al Gore was fine and didn't see why others thought he was so boring.

But he did well, sitting down for one, and apparently extemporaneous. So imagine what he can do with a teleprompter.

He took a sip of the coffee but was cool about it. Beat Rubio in a landslide.

[DFW]

11. If O'Malley's term doesn't expire for another two years

I hope he shuts up and ignores the 2016 presidential race until about three months before he leaves office. He should spend the time he has left in office doing a lot of really good things for Maryland that he will be able to point to IF he decides to get in the race.

[madinmaryland]

12. He has a lot on his plate this year in Maryland. Not sure what he plans

for next year, if he will even get anything passed.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

14. He's term limited, so 2014 should be his last year. The assembly is dominated by Democrats

What else is on his plate?

[madinmaryland]

15. Repeal of the Death Penalty and I think he is working on a host of gun control initiatives.

I think he is working on getting additional revenue to work on highway and mass transit infrastructure upgrades, also.

It's a four month session, so we'll see how much gets done.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

20. His biggest problem will be with the conservadems, but I don't see him having too many problems.

Maryland is becoming more liberal by the year. Also, he should be signing a gay marriage bill, too.

[Orangepeel]

21. March 12, 2012

Is when he signed Maryland's marriage equality law.

Current legislative priorities include stronger gun safety laws, repeal of the death penalty, greater investment in wind power and early voting/same day registration.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

23. Thanks for this. I wasn't sure when. :)

[TwilightGardener]

16. It's called getting a speechwriter and some public speaking guidance. There aren't a lot of

Obamas out there, natural stars who need little or no image-polishing--nor do we necessarily need one. A workhorse with a well-crafted image will do fine.

[madinmaryland]

17. He really did not need much image polishing when he ran against the corrupt Bobby Ehrlich and the

clueless Michael Steele.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

30. And he beat them TWICE!! There's a certain president that many people love with the initials

B.C. who didn't deliver the best DNC speech back in the day. Story has it that he was so long-winded and dull that people began walking out. B.C. turned out to be great once he polished his speaking skills, became more succinct and shortened his speeches for effectiveness. If B.C. can do it, then I see O'Malley has having the potential to be great one day.

[brooklynite]

18. He was running when he was in Charlotte for the Convention...

[Rosa Luxemburg]

19. Does one need to be a good orator to be president?

They elected George Bush!

[TwilightGardener]

22. WSJ blog today about O'Malley picking a fight with Chris Christie, under the heading "Preview

of 2016?"

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2013/02/22/2016-preview-omalley-takes-shots-at-christie/

[elleng]

27. 'Asked in an interview what he made of Republican governors like Chris Christie

of New Jersey and Scott Walker of Wisconsin getting so much attention for innovations under way in their states, Maryland Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley shot back: “What innovations?”

Then he lit into Gov. Christie, saying he sought the spotlight for reforms, particularly the overhauling of public-sector pension plans, that many other governors had already done in their states.

Both Mr. O’Malley and Mr. Christie are considered likely presidential candidates for 2016.

“Christie, God bless him, I remember…when he was acting as if he was the first governor in the country that had to reconcile this,” Mr. O’Malley said, describing how he had also reined in the Maryland public pension system around the same time.

Mr. O’Malley made the remarks in the lead up to the National Governors Association winter meeting, which will take place over the weekend in Washington.

He mentioned a session at last year’s meeting where Mr. Christie was in attendance.

“He regaled us for 20 minutes at a lunch about how he put on a Superman cape and reformed his pension system,” Mr. O’Malley said. “Everyone has had to do that. He’s done it with a lot of panache and bravado and, some would say, in a very confrontational way, to put it mildly. That’s not what we did, so it got less attention.”'

[alp227]

24. O'Malley says in interview with Baltimore Sun he's still considering whether to run

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2013-04-10/news/bs-md-omalley-interview-20130410_1_martin-o-malley-death-penalty-maryland

"I need to be spending a lot more energy and time giving serious consideration and preparation to what — if anything — I might have to offer should I decide to run for president in 2016," O'Malley said during a wide-ranging interview with editors of The Baltimore Sun.

O'Malley has typically demurred from answering questions about his potential candidacy, though it has been the subject of news articles and rampant political speculation both in and outside of Maryland.

(Balt Sun, 4/10/13)

[yellowcanine]

25. Who is Monica McCarthy and why are we putting stock in her opinion?

She sounds a little superficial to me.

[graham4anything]

26. Deval Patrick? He might be running for VP. Hope so. I really like him too.

Though he would be great as a member of SCOTUS some day too.

[WI_DEM]

31. Many are waiting to see what Hillary Clinton does.

[yellowcanine]

32. No he isn't. At least not right now. Can we give it a rest at least until 2015?

[AtomicKitten]

33. He definitely could be a contender.

I'd be very interested in his candidacy.