Netroots Nation, the annual conference of ultra-left-wing activists, had two Democratic Party presidential candidates in attendance at their event in Phoenix, Ariz., this year… And shouted them both off stage.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley participated separately in a candidate discussion moderated by journalist and illegal alien Jose Antonio Vargas. Both speakers were interrupted by shouting protesters from the #BlackLivesMatter movement and were unable to continue.
O’Malley was being interrupted by protesters and, after pleas from the stage and event organizers, was allowed to continue. He went on to say, “I know, I know…Let me talk a little bit…Black lives matter, white lives matter, all lives matter,” which the crowd did not appreciate. The chants and boos got louder and the candidate left the stage.
On the July 1 edition of Hardball on MSNBC, Chris Matthews brought former Democratic senator and presidential candidate Gary Hart to the program to discuss his book and today’s politics. Matthews asked Hart about “the ideological direction of the party right now” and added that Bernie Sanders is bringing a kind of 1960s message to Democratic politics. The Hardball host then transitioned to discuss Hillary Clinton, making a dubious observation: “Hillary Clinton [is] more of a conservative in a sense of more of a traditional politician from the center, center.”
Matthews asked Hart how he would like to see this battle in the Democratic Party shake out. The former Colorado Democrat replied: "Today, I think Senator Sanders is rallying a base – a part of the Democratic base that has not been appealed to because of the so-called centrism that’s been going on and off in the Democratic Party. I've never quite understood what that was, but avoidance, I think, of controversial positions. Hart added that he thinks “there is a chance for a generational change here.” After Matthews questioned Hart on who he’d support in the Democratic primaries in 2016, the former presidential candidate named Martin O’Malley (D-MD) as his favorite candidate. Also wanting to get a word in about Donald Trump, Hart largely dismissed the billionaire as a product of high name ID. He noted that, right now, “all you hear about” is the media covering Trump. Hart elaborated: “[T]he polls...often reflect name recognition. You stop somebody on the street, you give them 10 or 15 names, half of those people will pick a name they've heard of. And who have they heard of recently but Donald Trump?”
Democratic presidential candidate Martin O'Malley may not be doing well in the polls, but he's putting in a concerted effort to make his voice heard on gun violence in the wake of the recent Charleston massacres.
"A single American life is worth more than all the guns in the United States," O'Malley said while giving a speech at the U.S. Conference of Mayors in San Francisco. "How many senseless acts of violence do we have to endure as a people before we stand up to the congressional lobbyists of the National Rifle Association? How many more Americans have to die?"
While governor of Maryland, O'Malley instituted laws banning assault weapons and high capacity gun magazines that "exist only to inflict human casualty." He also implemented strict licensing rules cracking down on the gun-permitting process, to ensure maximum safety. Because of his actions, the National Rifle Association gave O'Malley an "F rating."
O'Malley recently told supporters that his legislation passed in Maryland is just his first step for his plan for the nation. If elected, he said he wants to enforce a national assault weapons ban, stricter background checks and increase efforts to reduce straw-buying of guns.
Democratic presidential candidate responds to the Charleston shooting with an email saying, "I'm pissed."
"I'm pissed that after an unthinkable tragedy like the one in South Carolina yesterday, instead of jumping to act, we sit back and wait for the appropriate moment to say what we're all thinking: that this is not the America we want to be living in," O'Malley writes.
I'm pissed that we’re actually asking ourselves the horrific question of, what will it take? How many senseless acts of violence in our streets or tragedies in our communities will it take to get our nation to stop caving to special interests like the NRA when people are dying?
I'm pissed that after working hard in the state of Maryland to pass real gun control—laws that banned high-magazine weapons, increased licensing standards, and required fingerprinting for handgun purchasers—Congress continues to drop the ball.
It's time we called this what it is: a national crisis.
I proudly hold an F rating from the NRA, and when I worked to pass gun control in Maryland, the NRA threatened me with legal action, but I never backed down.
So now, I'm doubling down, and I need your help. What we did in Maryland should be the first step of what we do as a nation. The NRA is already blaming the victims of yesterday's shooting for their own deaths, saying they too should have been armed. Let's put an end to this madness and finally stand up to them. Here are some steps we should be taking:
1. A national assault weapons ban.
2. Stricter background checks.
3. Efforts to reduce straw-buying, like fingerprint requirements.
Democratic presidential hopeful Martin O’Malley’s credibility is coming under attack from an unexpected source, a long-time friend and African-American civil rights advocate in the Baltimore Police Department.
Sgt. Louis H. Hopson, who has worked at the Baltimore Police Department for 35 years and is a board member of the Vanguard Justice Society, an influential association of Baltimore African-American police officers, charges that O’Malley didn’t know what to do about race relations when he was the city’s mayor from 1999 to 2007. O’Malley was then elected Maryland governor twice.
Hopson blames many of Baltimore’s current racial problems on O’Malley and says many in the city’s African-American community fear an O’Malley presidency.
Hopson made Baltimore civil rights history in 2004 when O’Malley was mayor and trouble was brewing within the police department. White supervisors were accused of improperly sanctioning African-American police officers.
Hopson became the lead plaintiff in a landmark lawsuit, “Hopson v. The Mayor.” The city awarded $2.5 million in 2009 to more than a dozen African-American police officers and required an independent monitor to oversee the department’s disciplinary practices.
“Here’s his problem,” Hopson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Martin doesn’t know what to do when it comes to the race issue. And like a lot of people, they will just ignore it and hope it goes away,” he said.
“Martin exposed corruption, but he didn’t do anything about it when he became mayor,” Hopson charges. “That’s where the animosity began with African-American officers and African-Americans in the city. Martin O’Malley is not a finisher. We wouldn’t be in the position we’re in today had Martin done something about this.”
Hopson’s comments could spell trouble for O’Malley, who is positioning himself as the more progressive alternative to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential Democratic race.
DES MOINES, Iowa – Although underdogs, Hillary Clinton’s competition in the Democratic Party drew large crowds in Iowa last weekend, as Breitbart News previously reported.
The self proclaimed socialist, “Sanders attracted overflow crowds in Ames and Davenport, then Sanders capped his three-day trip with a Saturday night stop in Kensett, where more than 300 people greeted him,” Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson wrote earlier last week.
“To a certain degree, I think socialism is so odd to us – I think there would be people that want to hear how in the world an American could promote socialism,” Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kauffman told Breitbart News – adding that he is interested in how Sanders will put his campaign message all together.
Breitbart News questioned if Iowans were interested in both Sanders and O’Malley because they aren’t Clinton – as Clinton’s honesty and trustworthiness has been crumbling among independent voters, a recent poll suggests.
“The Democrats I know certainly are – I don’t know if a socialist is going to provide that – but you know, if you look at Hillary’s voting record she’s a socialist in the making – and wait until she gets in the Obama White House and picks up whatever he leaves, in terms of his policies,” Kauffman added.
Breitbart News noted how Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is the favorite in Iowa in many recent polls but that former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)
93%
were the only two candidates in a recent poll that Iowans selected in an individual match up with Clinton.
“These polls are going to be so fluid … I listen to the polls obviously – you know, I’m not going to get real serious about the polls at least for the top ten until – I’ll tell you it’s going to almost have to be October before I start listening,” he said.
Kauffman said it’s hard to believe anything in a June or July poll can be of any predictive value of what is going to happen in February.
In a field of Democratic presidential long shots, former Rhode Island senator and governor Lincoln Chafee, who announced his candidacy on Wednesday, may be the longest shot of all. As an authentic, uncompromising progressive, Bernie Sanders is poised to grab the bulk of those Elizabeth Warren enthusiasts who can’t reconcile themselves to Hillary Clinton. As the handsome, articulate, two-term governor of a mid-size state, Martin O’Malley at least looks like a plausible contender one day. Chafee, by contrast, in the words of Quinnipiac University’s Monica Bauer, “has the charisma of Walter Mondale wrapped in the political instincts of a small town city councilman, which he once was, and perhaps would have remained, if he hadn’t been the son of a famous political dynasty. He is George W. Bush with more intelligence but far less political talent.” And like Bush, Chafee was, until very recently, a Republican. But Chafee could prove Hillary’s most intriguing challenger. It’s not because he’ll garner enough support to give her a scare. If anyone does that, it will likely beSanders, who according to the New York Times is already “gain[ing] momentum in Iowa.” What makes Chafee’s candidacy intriguing is that he’s attacking Hillary on the issue on which she may be most vulnerable: her vote to authorize war with Iraq.
“I don’t think anybody should be president of the United States that made that mistake,” Chafee toldTheWashington Post in April. “It’s a huge mistake, and we live with broad, broad ramifications today—of instability not only in the Middle East but far beyond and the loss of American credibility.”
A version of this attack helped Barack Obama topple Hillary in 2008. That’s not likely to happen again, since Democrats care far less about Iraq this time.
But Republicans do. While foreign policy has been largely absent from the Democratic presidential campaign thus far, it’s been central to the Republican debate. And this reflects a divide in the country as a whole. A May Wall Street Journal/NBC poll found that “national security/terrorism,” which was the top concern of only eight percent of likely GOP primary voters three years ago, now ranks first, at 27 percent. Among likely Democratic primary voters, by contrast, it’s less than half that.
The RNC would like to introduce Martin O’Malley, the tax-hiking, anti-energy production Governor who's best known for his disastrous state ObamaCare exchange and his legacy on crime and jails in the city of Baltimore that have come under fire. A prolific tax raiser, O’Malley increased taxes 40 times on Maryland families, including an absurd “flush tax” on household water and sewage usage. With a record like that, it’s no wonder why even voters in the blue state of Maryland rejected his legacy and elected a Republican last year.
Martin O’Malley is just looking for a little room to breathe.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is far and away the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, while Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (I) has taken the edge as the liberal insurgent.
O’Malley, days before the Saturday launch of his White House bid at a park overlooking Baltimore’s harbor, is performing dismally in polls despite months of travel to Iowa and New Hampshire.
He regularly pulls just 1 percent nationally, and only does slightly better in the first-in-the-nation caucus and primary states.
O’Malley isn’t well-known nationally, and could soon be competing for money, media and support with a handful of other candidates, including former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee and former Sen. Jim Webb (Va.).
Yet Democrats interviewed by The Hill insist O’Malley has a chance.
They say there’s still an opening for him to become the alternative to Clinton given his liberal voting record, his youthful good looks — which have helped him win attention from the conservative Drudge Report — and his standing as a Washington outsider.
“There’s a lot of hostility out there towards Washington right now,” said Brad Bannon, a Democratic strategist. “He could run as the anti-Washington candidate, as someone who hasn’t been tainted by Washington politics, while framing Hillary and Bernie as products of D.C. culture.”
If the front-runner implodes, some supporters say he might be best-positioned to step in.
“He’s a legitimate national candidate,” said Democratic strategist Scott Ferson. “If Hillary for some reason doesn’t become inevitable, some candidate will have a shot to step in, and he could be that person.”
But Ferson then acknowledges: “He’s not that person now.”
To get there, outsiders say O’Malley will have to distinguish himself from Clinton and Sanders.
O’Malley is already signaling he intends to play up the generational divide in the primaries. At 52, he’s 15 years younger than Clinton and 21 years younger than Sanders.
He has previously taken swipes at the dynastic elements of Clinton’s candidacy, saying the presidency is not a “crown” to be passed between two families.
This week, O’Malley allies launched a super-PAC called Generation Forward, a not-so-subtle dig that suggests Clinton is the candidate from the past.
This week a 19 year old Republican, Yvonne Dean-Bailey, won a highly contested race in the swing state of New Hampshire.
Dean-Bailey, a 19-year-old college student, becomes one of the youngest women elected to the New Hampshire House of Representatives.
The race attracted a disproportionate share of attention on the eve of a presidential primary season.
Republican presidential hopefuls Carly Fiorina and Rick Perry attended events with Dean-Bailey, while Democrat Martin O’Malley helped promote Mann, who is a former state representative.
The election drew enormous interest, and support for and against each candidate, from outside of the district. In Deerfield, for example, turnout was about 26 percent. In Candia, it was 16 percent.
The state’s Republican Party plans to file an election law complaint today with the Attorney General’s Office after a former campaign worker for Democrat state representative candidate Maureen Mann admitted to emailing a hoax news release claiming her Republican challenger, candidate Yvonne Dean-Bailey, had dropped out of the race.
The Clinton Foundation has disclosed that it received up to $26 million in payments that had not been previously disclosed, with about 20 colleges and universities on the list of organizations and institutions that paid fees for speeches by one of the Clintons —Bill, the former president; Hillary, the former U.S. senator and secretary of state; or Chelsea, their daughter.
The total amount paid by the colleges and universities is between $2.8 million and $6.7 million — a range based on the way the fees are reported. For example, the top fees were reported in a range from $250,001 to $500,000.
Here, taken from the Clinton Foundation’s website, is a list of the college and universities that paid to have one of the Clintons give a speech from the time the foundation was founded in 2001 through 2014.
As Millennials are learning more about Hillary Clinton they are liking her less as Pew found out this week. Last year 82 percent of 18-25 year old Democrats had a favorable view of her now only 65 percent do.
Not only are young Republicans succeeding, we are also taking positions of leadership. Just this week 30 year old RNC Chief of Staff, Katie Walsh, was named one of The Washington Post’s “40 Most Interesting Women In Politics”
WASHINGTON (AP) -- More than a decade ago, Bill Clinton spotted a political star in the making, someone he predicted would go from a big-city mayor to a national leader - maybe even to the White House. "I won't be surprised if you go all the way," Clinton wrote in a 2002 letter to Baltimore's mayor, Martin O'Malley.
In the years that followed, Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton showed up time and again as their young ally gained stature as governor of Maryland, hosting fundraisers, headlining rallies and connecting him to their sprawling network of political donors.
Now, O'Malley is just days away from walking down the path Clinton laid out for him more than a decade ago, as he prepares to announce his presidential campaign in Baltimore on May 30. And that means transforming himself from one of Hillary Clinton's most loyal supporters into her chief adversary for the Democratic nomination.
"It's certainly been a long and friendly relationship," said Steve Kearney, a former O'Malley aide. "Times change. He clearly thought she was the best candidate in 2008. We'll find out whether that remains true today."
On April 10, Elizabeth Warren joined Jon Stewart on the Daily Show and declared, “Powerful corporations [and] rich people have figured out that if you can bend the government to help you just a little bit, it’s a tremendous payoff, and if you can bend it to help you just a little bit more and a little bit more, the playing field just gets more and more tilted, and the rich and the powerful just do better and better.” A week later, Martin O’Malley stood before a packed crowd at Harvard’s Institute of Politics and proclaimed, “Concentrated wealth has accumulated concentrated political power in the halls of our Congress, and also in many, many, many of our state houses, making it harder than ever to get things done.”
Both of these quotes are emblematic of a nascent populist movement in the Democratic Party. Both reflect a deep concern that all Americans don’t have an equal shot at prosperity. Both demonstrate a growing opposition to the centrist Democratic policies of the Clinton era—the trade policies and the welfare reform—that seemed to mostly benefit the wealthiest Americans.
Yet it is Martin O’Malley, not Elizabeth Warren, who has a proven record of accomplishing real progress on these issues on a state level. It is Martin O’Malley, not Elizabeth Warren, who became the first major Democratic politician to endorse a national $15 minimum wage at the Institute of Politics on Thursday. And it is Martin O’Malley, not Elizabeth Warren, who is seriously considering challenging Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president in 2016.
So why have political pundits come to the consensus that Elizabeth Warren is the only one who could give Hillary a run for her money in the Democratic primary? Perhaps it is O’Malley’s lack of name recognition. He is currently polling at around 0.3 percent in the Iowa Democratic Caucus, compared to Clinton’s 58 percent, and Warren’s 17 percent. But that number is increasing, and O’Malley received a warm reception in recent trips to New Hampshire and Iowa.
Washington has been locked for months in a series of partisan battles over the law known as Obamacare, as well as battles within the GOP over how best to oppose the ACA. But it’s the state just to the north that has served up the country’s first Democrat-on-Democrat brawl over the inept implementation of the law, offering perhaps a first test of Democratic voters’ patience with the ACA’s technical setbacks.
In Maryland, the fight to succeed outgoing Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley has pitted [Attorney General Doug] Gansler against state Del. Heather Mizeur and Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, the frontrunner for the nomination who chairs the state panel on ACA implementation and has long presented himself as the O’Malley administration’s point man on Obamacare.
…and the fact that Politico did its best to skip over Delegate Mizeur should be diagnostic. Essentially, the primary (ahem) problem for the Democrats is that the Lt. Governor is now inextricably linked to the Maryland state Obamacare exchange*, while the Attorney General has a dysfunctional campaign and has visual evidence linking him to a party featuring underage, drunken twerkers. As for the last remaining major candidate?
:pause:
Well. Perhaps the state of Maryland is ready for an openly gay, pro-marijuana governor. And perhaps it is not. Now, don’t get me wrong: in Maryland the problem for Del. Mazeur would be the latter part, not the former. But the fact remains this is the wrong administration for politicians to try to be too vocally pro-pot. Joe Biden in particular is a hardcore War on Some Drugs enthusiast, and at this point he’s the only person in the administration’s A-list who is actually popular. If he tried to stump for Mizeur, everybody would scream hypocrisy. Including people on the Left.
daveweigel
