2016 Postmortem

bigtree

(85,999 posts) Wed Dec 9, 2015, 10:35 PM Dec 2015

Crowd out the door and in the halls for Martin O'Malley @UC Berkeley

trevor cornwell @trevorcornwell
Crowd out the door and in the halls for @MartinOMalley @UCBerkeley @caldems @berkeleyforum

BERKELEY -- Never mind the polls: For this evening, Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley was a rock star.

The former Maryland governor was swarmed with adoring supporters as he arrived and as he departed a campaign event at a UC Berkeley auditorium. Inside about 250 people -- mostly students taking a quick break from cramming for finals -- applauded his stances on economic opportunity, climate change, foreign policy and particularly debt-free college education.

In an hour of speaking and answering questions, O'Malley said the nation thirsts for "new leadership and getting things done." And, he noted, he's the only Democratic candidate with 15 years of executive experience, first as Baltimore's mayor and then as Maryland's governor.

Kevin Zeithaml ?@zytehamel 50m50 minutes ago
Students who couldn't fit in room watching from every place they can to see @MartinOMalley talk @UCBerkeley #2016

He touted his record of enacting a living wage law, avoiding public university tuition increases, driving down violent crime and incarceration rates, lowering barriers to voting, establishing marriage equality, imposing strict new gun controls, and signing a state DREAM Act for young people whose parents had brought them to this country illegally. He called them "new American immigrants" and "not-yet-naturalized students."

He called for raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour, making it easier to join labor unions, guaranteeing equal pay between genders, and expanding paid family leave. He said he has a plan to transition to a 100 percent clean electricity grid by 2050, and he called for a combination of diplomacy, improved intelligence and support of a regional military coalition to defeat the so-called Islamic State. And he blasted Republican frontrunner Donald Trump for "fascist demagoguery."

Kevin Zeithaml ?@zytehamel 1h1 hour ago
@MartinOMalley teaches income inequality hist. in the US over last 50 years @ standing room only event @UCBerkeley

Most of his points were punctuated by finger snaps, applause or cheers -- a reception almost warm enough to make one forget where he stands in the race.

"We have to continue to build, expand our organization, every day" -- one endorsement, one precinct, one county at a time in those early states -- he told reporters Wednesday before departing for a fundraiser in San Francisco.

With most Iowa voters not making up their minds until the two weeks right before the Feb. 1 caucuses, he added, "I think the lane is wide open for us."

read: http://www.insidebayarea.com/breaking-news/ci_29227086/berkeley-democratic-presidential-candidate-martin-omalley-vows-soldier

Martin O'Malley greets students at the University of California before speaking at the Berkeley Forum, co-hosted by the Cal Berkeley Democrats, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015, in Berkeley, Calif. (D. Ross Cameron/Bay Area News Group) ( D. ROSS CAMERON )