MOUNT VERNON, Iowa — Selling himself as a progressive who gets things done, Martin O’Malley engaged in classic Iowa retail politics Thursday afternoon at a Mount Vernon house party. O’Malley, who later had a campaign rally at Sanctuary Pub in Iowa City, emphasized his experience and record of getting things done as Baltimore mayor and two terms as Maryland governor.

“I am the only candidate in this race with 15 years of elected executive experience.” O’Malley said more than once during a 13-minute stump speech and about 20 minutes of question-and-answer.

O’Malley offered “the right ideas, progressive ideas,” said Terry Lessmeier of Mount Vernon and might be a nice fit compared to Sanders “who is not discreet and Clinton who is too discreet” in expressing progressive values.

That was part of O’Malley’s sales pitch, too. Voters who look at his “15 years of elected executive experience” will see “a fearless advancing of progressive goals and progressive values,” O’Malley said. “I don’t apologize for them. I plan to speak fearlessly about the progressive values and progressive goals that are going to make our country better.”

MOUNT VERNON, Iowa — Selling himself as a progressive who gets things done, Martin O’Malley engaged in classic Iowa retail politics Thursday afternoon at a Mount Vernon house party. O’Malley, who later had a campaign rally at Sanctuary Pub in Iowa City, emphasized his experience and record of getting things done as Baltimore mayor and two terms as Maryland governor.

“I am the only candidate in this race with 15 years of elected executive experience.” O’Malley said more than once during a 13-minute stump speech and about 20 minutes of question-and-answer.

O’Malley offered “the right ideas, progressive ideas,” said Terry Lessmeier of Mount Vernon and might be a nice fit compared to Sanders “who is not discreet and Clinton who is too discreet” in expressing progressive values.

That was part of O’Malley’s sales pitch, too. Voters who look at his “15 years of elected executive experience” will see “a fearless advancing of progressive goals and progressive values,” O’Malley said. “I don’t apologize for them. I plan to speak fearlessly about the progressive values and progressive goals that are going to make our country better.”

Ben Carson’s presidential campaign continues to flawlessly meet expectations, which is to say that it is a fiery catastrophe of failure, greed, and embarrassment. There was really no other way this situation could play out. Carson’s political celebrity was never rooted in anything meaningful – conservatives fell in love with him because he insults President Obama and refuses to be “politically correct.” The Wall Street Journal editorial board encouraged Carson to run for the White House for no other reason than his willingness to say things that are “un-PC.” And, not surprisingly, Carson’s attempt to transform this crude, superficial appeal into an actual political movement has been disastrous.

As for Carson himself, he’s apparently none too interested in the toxic internal fights that are sabotaging his campaign apparatus. “Carson occasionally drops by his Alexandria campaign headquarters,” the Post noted, “but his main interaction with staffers is once a week, at 10 a.m. on Sundays, when he participates in a conference call.” He’d rather be out on the trail, talking to voters, and proposing bad, confusing policy ideas that aren’t really tethered to any sort of ideology, or even to common sense. Yesterday, according to MSNBC, Carson floated the idea of a “covert division” of government employees that would “monitor what government people do” and make sure they’re doing their jobs, or something.

It’s an idea that’s rooted in a conservative caricature of government employees as parasitic loafers who just sit in their cubicles all day laughing as they count the money they’re stealing from hardworking taxpayers who have real jobs. If you’re a conservative who has a problem with the size and complexity of the federal government, I’m not sure why you’d support an expansion of the federal workforce (and an extra layer of bureaucracy) as a means to fix it. A spokesman for Carson tried to clarify what he meant: “Covert division? More like Secret Shopper, a quality control strategy used worldwide to improve customer service and customer care.” It’s not immediately apparent how a strategy used to improve customer service would apply to people in white-collar jobs, but whatever. It’s an idea.

Following the suspension of progressive activists’ efforts to draft Senator Elizabeth Warren in the race for the Democratic Party nomination, we are all faced with a rather tough question; what now? Many of you are probably immediately going to say “Bernie Sanders!” While that response is certainly understandable, I want to present you all with a different option. An option that many of you may not have considered. An option I think that we progressives should all seriously consider.

That option is former two term governor of Maryland Martin O’Malley...

... it isn’t just O’Malley’s announcement speech, Wall Street’s response to it, or the things that he’s saying as he’s on the campaign trail that should draw attention and admiration from progressives, it’s his record as governor. O’Malley was able to accomplish a lot while serving as the governor of Maryland. Let’s take a look at just some of these things:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce rated Maryland the #1 state for entrepreneurship and innovation in 2013 and one of the top 10 for overall economic performance nationwide.

Maryland was 1 of only 18 states to recover all the jobs it lost during the financial crisis.

Martin O’Malley abolished the death penalty in 2010 and commuted the sentences of those that were on death row in 2014.

While he was governor Maryland passed marriage equality.

He signed a bill that raised the minimum wage to $10.10. (He has spoke out in favor a $15 minimum wage.)

Maryland passed it’s version of the Dream Act during O’Malley’s tenure.

Maryland schools rank #1 5 years in a row under O’Malley’s governorship.

Cost of college in Maryland rose at lowest rate in the nation under O’Malley’s watch.

Maryland had the highest median household income in America under O’Malley’s governorship.

The nonpartisan Pew Center on the State ranked Maryland one of the top three states for upward economic mobility.

Maryland was one of just 7 states to retain a AAA bond rating throughout the recession.

With it now being abundantly clear that Senator Elizabeth Warren will not be running for president in 2016, progressives are going to have to get behind a candidate that is running. Thankfully there is another choice for progressives. And thankfully there is a candidate with 15 years of executive experience, as both a mayor of one of America’s largest cities and a two term governor of Maryland.

That candidate is Martin O’Malley. Not only is he saying all the right things and hitting all the right strings on there on the campaign trail, he has a record of getting the agenda accomplished. Martin O’Malley is the candidate that progressives need.

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Martin O’Malley entered the room to hoots and hollers at his Des Moines rally the evening after his official presidential announcement in Baltimore. The crowd was eager to see the former Maryland Governor (or perhaps just any Democratic candidate), and O’Malley returned the enthusiasm with a high-energy speech of his own.

“I thought he gave a great speech – very uplifting, hit all the right notes,” said John Judge of the Polk County Democrats afterwards. “For being put on the spot, I think he did really well. It showed he didn’t have any canned answers.”

“I like that he was listening to the youth and hitting on hard topics that a lot of people like to stay away from on social issues,” Crista Righi agreed. “I think he sees us evolving and thinking of views that aren’t as important right now.”
O'Malley speaks with the press after his event.

“I see all these young people – he might be onto something there,” noted Judge.