Martin O’Malley has knocked Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton on everything from gun control and trade to not being tough enough on Wall Street, but the long-shot presidential hopeful is careful to note that he maintains “a tremendous amount of respect” for the former secretary of state.
The former two-term governor of Maryland joined dozens of supporters at an Irish pub in Washington, D.C., Thursday evening where he reassured reporters he’s not in the 2016 race “to attack anybody,” just hours before heading to South Carolina for the “First in the South” Democratic presidential forum.
“I’m pretty clear about my principles [and] I know what I stand for,” O’Malley told the Washington Examiner. “The other candidates have different positions, and I intend to point out those differences and let the people decide, but I have a tremendous amount of respect for Secretary Clinton and for Sen. [Bernie] Sanders.”
“The fact that Sen. Sanders and I have a disagreement on guns and gun safety is something that voters need to consider. The fact that Secretary Clinton and I have profound differences on reigning in excesses on Wall Street and refraining from bad trade deals is something people need to consider.”
O’Malley says he will continue to draw distinctions between himself and his two opponents in the forum Friday and future Democratic primary debates. He noted, however, that highlighting such differences is “not out of a lack of respect” for the former first lady or socialist senator, but “out of respect for the voters.”
“Voters need to know there’s a difference between candidates, otherwise there’s no reason to offer a candidacy,” he said.
O’Malley, who released a campaign polling data, the former governor currently earns just 1.8 percent support nationally while Clinton and Sanders are polling around 54 and 32 percent, respectively.
