On a nationally syndicated liberal radio talk show in Washington, Gov. Martin O?Malley again deflected questions Thursday about his national ambitions the day after he endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton for president.
In response to a question from WWRC veteran host Bill Press about whether he talked with her about running as vice president, O?Malley said, “I had no conversations about that” with the New York senator seeking the Democratic nomination. “I?m still learning the job that I have,” said O?Malley, who?s been governor less than four months.
In a 15-minute appearance by phone, O?Malley discussed his support for Clinton, his complaints about the loss of National Guard equipment and legislation passed this year by the General Assembly.
He went further than he had before in questioning a bill on his desk that permits parole for second-time drug dealers, rather than the mandatory minimum they must now serve. Drug dealing is a violent crime, O?Malley said, and “I?m not inclined to sign that bill.”
But he was drawn back again into the national Democratic politics when Jamal Simmons, a Democratic political consultant who has worked for former President Bill Clinton, asked O?Malley about being the Democratic presidential nominee himself in 2012 or 2016.
O?Malley laughed, “I?m honored and I accept your nomination.” But, he said, “we?ve got plenty to do in Maryland.”
After O?Malley left the air, Press called him “a rising star of the Democratic Party. This is the Martin O?Malley fan club.”
Political junkies and O?Malley?s critics have long speculated about O?Malley?s national ambitions. But in the latest talk, no one has made it clear how a first-term governor from a small, reliably Democratic East Coast state Sen. Clinton in a national contest. But then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton disregarded the old ticket-balancing rules when he chose Al Gore from neighboring Tennessee as his running mate.
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