Martin O’Malley’s announcement Thursday that he will not run for president may not have upended the 2020 presidential field. But by endorsing Beto O’Rourke at the same time he revealed his own departure from the race, O’Malley significantly advanced the case for the former Texas congressman in the Iowa crucible that could determine O’Rourke’s fate if he chooses to run.
Despite O’Malley’s weak performance in the Iowa caucuses in 2016 — he dropped out of the race on caucus night after receiving less than 1 percent of the vote — the former Maryland governor has spent years cultivating relationships with Democratic donors and activists in the first-in-the-nation caucus state. Even after the 2016 campaign, he spent months appearing in the state, traveling there for fundraisers and to help down-ticket Democrats in the midterm elections.
O’Malley was at best a longshot in Iowa in 2020. But he remained connected to the state, enough to break the news of his departure in the state’s biggest newspaper, the Des Moines Register, where he simultaneously made the case for O’Rourke. He set forth a rationale for an O’Rourke candidacy that would position the Texan as a unifying figure separate from the progressive stream of Democrats now appealing to the party’s liberal base.
“People are looking for a new leader who can bring us together,” O’Malley wrote. “They are looking for a unifier and a healer. They are looking for a leader of principle, and they are now looking for a fearless vision.”
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https://www.politico.com/story/2019/01/03/martin-omalley-beto-orourke-endorsement-iowa-caucuses-1080480
O’Malley is an idiot
Right.
