O'Malley talks wages during stop in Wapello.
'Democratic presidential candidate and Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley spoke to a large crowd at a house party in Wapello Saturday afternoon pledging to make college more affordable, support sensible trade deals and immigration policies.
Some 40 people crowded into the home of the Chavarria family on Mill Street in Wapello.
The 52-year-old two-term governor said Iowa caucus goers have a choice between the future of the Democratic Party and its past in the three remaining candidates, for New York Sen. and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and himself.
O'Malley also served two terms as the mayor of Baltimore.
Several people in the crowd asked about the economy and trade and union issues.
"Our country is doing better but 70 percent of us are earning the same or less than we were four years ago. Wages are supposed to go up in our nation, not flat-line or go down," he said.
"To make wages go up again, I believe we need to shake ourselves free of the old trickle down theories of economics, or taking orders from the big banks of Wall Street on how to put together our economy."
O'Malley wants to make it easier for workers to collectively bargain for wages and benefits and for women to fight for equal pay.
"We are Americans and we know our economy is not money. It's people. It's all of our people."
He credited President Obama with saving the country from serious problems during the recession of 2008.
"A lot of us like Barack Obama and for good reason. When our country was was this close to being plunged into a second great depression, we put forward a new leader for our nation. President Obama made the best decisions possible in some of the most trying times."
One woman said her parents immigrated to the United States to make a better life for their family and asked for O'Malley's thoughts on immigration.
"When I am president I will pass comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway for citizenship," he said.
The high cost of college was an issue for Eric Garcia of Wapello, a junior at the University of Iowa majoring in athletic training.
"Make college affordable for more people instead of pricing it out of the range of most families. We are the only nation on the planet that saddles our kids with a mountain of debt when they come out of college. It doesn't t need to be that way. All of these things are choices," O'Malley said.
Garcia liked what he heard from O'Malley.
"I really liked him. I watched him once during the debate and I really liked him and Bernie (Sanders). I am just trying to decide between both of them right now," Garcia said.
O'Malley said our ancestors turned challenges into opportunites.
"Climate change is the greatest business opportunity to come to America in 100 years," O'Malley said. "Look here in Iowa. You are already transforming that challenge. Thirty percent of your energy now comes from Iowa wind. That wasn't true 15 years ago."
He said he is the only candidate to propose the country move to a 100 percent clean electric grid by 2050.
The governor talked about Iowa's unique place in the presidential selection process.
"There's not another state in the United States where people get to meet each of the presidential candidates, two or three or four or five or six or seven times before you make a decision," O'Malley said.
He said he has visited 48 of Iowa's 99 counties so far in the campaign for the Democratic nomination for president.
"Without fail once caucus night comes around, the people of Iowa upset the apple cart and usually in our party, they bring forward a new leader that the rest of the nation has never met and has never heard of."'
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