Now the third-place candidate in a three-person race, Martin O’Malley was able to gain some momentum Friday by picking up the endorsement of former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer. Schweitzer himself flirted with a presidential run in 2016.
“Martin and I don’t agree on every issue, but he is the only candidate with a proven record of getting things done, and I believe he is the best candidate to take on Republicans in November 2016,” Schweitzer said in a statement released by the O’Malley campaign.
Schweitzer was likely alluding to O’Malley’s position on gun control, an issue on which O’Malley is trying to stake himself out as the toughest in the race. He has chided rival Bernie Sanders’s record on the issue, and citing his own gun policies as mayor of a large city.
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Schweitzer, on the other hand, was a fairly pro-gun Democratic governor.
Schweitzer intrigued political observers for many years as an eccentric Democratic governor successful at winning elections in a rural, red state. Schweitzer was even reportedly considered for vice president by Barack Obama in 2008, in a campaign where Obama was attempting to emphasize his “post-partisan” appeal.
His unscripted style of speech was seen as a political liability, however, and a presidential campaign never materialized.
