O enters race for president

Facing long odds, O’Malley enters race for president

Caption Martin O’Malley Karl Merton Ferron, Baltimore Sun

Former Baltimore mayor and Maryland governor Martin O’Malley, announcing his decision to run for the democratic nomination for the presidency, during his announcement at Federal Hill.

Former Baltimore mayor and Maryland governor Martin O’Malley, announcing his decision to run for the democratic nomination for the presidency, during his announcement at Federal Hill.

(Karl Merton Ferron, Baltimore Sun)

By John Fritze The Baltimore Sun contact the reporter

Martin O Hillary Clinton Joe Biden The last Marylander to launch a campaign for president was Republican Alan Keyes. O is polling at around 3 percent in Iowa. Democrat O is headed to Iowa, New Hampshire this weekend post announcement.

Martin O’Malley, the former Baltimore mayor and Maryland governor who ushered in an era of tech savvy management and a new brand of progressive politics during more than two decades in public office announced his long expected campaign for president on Saturday.

With Baltimore’s skyline as his backdrop, the 52 year old Democrat framed the election next year in dire economic terms, arguing that income inequality is making it harder for Americans to save for retirement and send children to college, that corporate interests are winning out over small businesses.

O’Malley officially cheap jerseys announces his bid for The White House Former Baltimore mayor and Maryland governor Martin O’Malley, announcing his decision to run for the democratic nomination for the presidency, during his announcement at Federal Hill.

Former Baltimore mayor and Maryland governor Martin O’Malley, announcing his decision to run for the democratic nomination for the presidency, during his announcement at Federal Hill.

“We are allowing our land of opportunity to become a land of inequality,” O’Malley told cheap wholesale jerseys several hundred people gathered at Federal Hill Park to hear his announcement. “Main Street struggles, while Wall Street soars.”

Despite a long career in state and local office and a deep inventory of liberal accomplishments in Annapolis O’Malley starts as a decided long shot, forced to campaign in the shadow of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, a onetime ally.

Early polls show Clinton with commanding leads in Iowa, New Hampshire and everywhere else, including O’Malley’s home state of Maryland. He has less support than Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont another declared candidate for the Democratic nomination, and Vice President Joe Biden, who has not said whether he will run.

PoliticsO addresses Baltimore civil unrestSee all related8 O’Malley used his speech to repeat themes he has long sounded in early primary states: That his executive experience sets him apart from both Clinton and wholesale jerseys Sanders, and that he represents a new generation of leadership. He did not mention Clinton by name, but repeated a veiled jab he has used against her before.

“The presidency is not a crown to be passed back and forth by you between two royal families,” he said, in reference to the Clinton and Bush families.

O’Malley, who got his start in politics on Gary Hart’s 1984 presidential campaign, left Maryland on Saturday for a two day swing through Iowa and New Hampshire. He phoned Clinton ahead of his announcement to personally inform her of his plans to run against her.

Early in his speech, O’Malley touched on the riots in Baltimore in April sparked by the cheap nhl jerseys china death of Freddie Gray, who sustained his fatal injuries while in police custody. He said the experience was about more than policing and race. It was, he said, “about everything it is supposed to mean to be an American.”

“For all of us who have given so much of our energies to making our city a safer, fairer, and more prosperous place, that was a heartbreaking night for all of us,” O’Malley said. “For us, Baltimore is our country and our country is Baltimore.”

But the line did not appease some protesters who yelled and blew police whistles from within the park. O’Malley has faced criticism for his tough on crime policing policies as mayor, which some critics have argued drove a wedge between law enforcement and the communities they patrolled.

“What about Freddie Gray?” one man shouted in the back.

“Zero tolerance policing another yelled.

Though the yelling could at times be heard above O’Malley’s voice it was not noticeable for those watching the speech on television.

“To you and to all who can hear my voice I declare that I am a candidate for President of the United States,” he said.

The former governor is the third candidate to enter the race for the Democratic nomination. On the Republican side, there are already eight candidates in and least a half dozen more who likely to run. One of those Republicans, retired Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon Ben Carson, lived for years in Maryland.

O’Malley may be best known as the young, brash, guitar playing councilman who was improbably elected in 1999 to lead a majority African American city beset by poverty, abandonment and violent crime. He embraced a new way of thinking about management relying on data to measure the time it took to fill potholes and fix streetlights and a tough policing strategy that remains controversial today.

Confronting a city paralyzed by violence and 300 plus homicides a year O’Malley arrived at City Hall in 1999 with a zero tolerance police strategy imported from New York. As he wrestled with top brass at police headquarters, officers cleared open drug markets and arrests soared. Over the next decade, Baltimore experienced the largest reduction in crime of any large city in the country.

But the strategy was controversial then, and recent police brutality cases like Gray’s have brought new scrutiny of his record. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings Blake’s administration issued a report claiming O’Malley had harmed the relationship between communities and police.

Still, O’Malley remained popular with voters, especially Democrats. He received national praise for his energy and commitment to the city, and cruised to reelection in 2003. Three years later, he ran for governor and unseated incumbent Republican Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.Articles Connexes：