2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumMartin O’Malley’s early bird strategy
The day before Hillary Clinton gives her own speech on Wall Street reform, her Democratic rival Martin OMalley came to a liberal think tank in Washington to make sure he got his own ideas on the issue out ahead of her.
OMalley already released his detailed Wall Street reform plan earlier this month in a lengthy white paper (which was somewhat overshadowed by an embarrassing footnoting issue), but at the Truman National Security Project Thursday he reminded anyone who would listen that who had a Wall Street plan first. . .
Its the latest example of OMalleys gamble that the early bird really will catch the worm. The former Maryland governor has been rolling out ambitious proposals at a feverish pitch, often before his challengers, and is hoping that voters reward him for being the first to stake flags on virtually any policy one can think of.
He put out comprehensive plans on Wall Street reform, debt-free college, climate change, immigration reform and other issues, and was the first Democrat to give a traditional speech on his foreign policy vision. Even on lower-profile issues, like Puerto Ricos debt crisis or the deportation of Haitians from the Dominican Republic, OMalley has jumped to be first mover in the field.
Acting first, he hopes, will make him a leader in the pack. When other candidates speak out on the same issue days or weeks later, OMalleys campaign is eager and aggressive to remind reporters who got there first. The strategy assumes that voters will reward OMalley for being the early bird, though so far theres little evidence of that as he continues to be stymied in the single digits of early state polls.
However, he has earned some recognition from activists. Martin OMalley was the first candidate to make criminal prosecution of Wall Street bankers a 2016 issue and its been great to see a race to the top with Clinton and Sanders making bold statements in favor of accountability for bankers who break the law, said Adam Green, the co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee.
And the early bird strategy may also be the only card he can play, as he acknowledged Thursday. Asked by msnbc why he thinks its so important to be first, he said he believes campaigns are about ideas and that he wants to offer a candidacy thats worthy. . .
But if Clinton mentions any of them in her speech Friday, you can count on OMalleys campaign to remind you who said it first.
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/martin-omalley-early-bird-strategy
with VIDEO, Rachel Maddow interview
FSogol
(45,580 posts)bigtree
(86,015 posts)...makes O'Malley a superior choice in this election, save for his ability, so far, to communicate all of that to primary voters.
I'm fed u waiting for the same detailed plans from the other candidates. it's as if they believe that telling us what we already know about these issues is some substitute for proposing action. Why so guarded about what they'd actually do in office. I've see what 'trust-based' presidencies produce. I want a candidate, like O'Malley, who's demonstrated an ability to pass these initiatives through a divided legislature and sell them to a divided public - coupled with a candidate, lie O'Malley, who is responsible enough and upfront enough with detailed and comprehensive plans presented to carry all of those forward into action.
elleng
(131,302 posts)and he's in Iowa and NH, doing nicely I suspect. And getting some national media attention.
bigtree
(86,015 posts)...it's amazing how tolerant they are about candidates who haven't yet shown their hands on actual solutions to the problems they're complaining about from the stump. They're all over the place with promises. I want detailed, specific plans and I want someone who's had respect enough for voters to have already led in presenting those.
elleng
(131,302 posts)in what the candidates are actually proposing to address the issues of the day.
DU, ARE YOU HERE???