Where was this Martin O’Malley during the primary?

This was a far cry from how he acted during the Democratic primary debates earlier this year. During those, he appeared like he was on quaaludes, offering only tempered criticisms of his rivals Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders and describing his own successes in such a way that no one wanted to listen.

See, O’Malley actually accomplished all the things his rivals said they wanted to accomplish. As governor of Maryland, he enacted gun control reforms, he raised taxes and tackled climate change — all things Democrats say they want.

But in selling that record, he had to compete with Sanders’ angry old man routine and Clinton’s “I’m a woman” routine. All he had was the boring white guy.

And that was sad, because he’s not boring. He’s in a band and is quite personable and down-to-earth. He’s much more relatable than Clinton, yet he could only manage 3 percent of the vote.

Wednesday night, O’Malley was electrifying; he even had facial expressions. He declared: “I say to hell with Trump’s American nightmare.” He also called Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump an “immigrant-bashing, carnival barker” and a “bully racist.”

If he had spoken during the primary the way he did Wednesday night, perhaps Democrats wouldn’t have nominated someone who has been investigated by the FBI (and found to have compromised national security through her incompetence) and whose foundation is currently being investigated by the IRS.

Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.