Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley blasted the Democratic National Committee Friday for “rigging” the party’s primary debate process to the benefit of Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton.
O’Malley joined four other presidential contenders in Minneapolis Friday for the DNC’s summer meeting where each candidate was given the opportunity to bolster support for their campaign through remarks to DNC members and leaders.
But O’Malley’s speech appeared to leave DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz more irritated than impressed. The former governor sharply criticized his party’s leadership for scheduling just four debates between the Democratic candidates ahead of the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses next February.
“This is totally unprecedented in our party’s history,” O’Malley said Friday. “This sort of rigged process has never been attempted before. Whose decree is it exactly? Where did it come from? To what end? For what purpose? What national or party interest does this decree serve? How does this help us tell the story of the last eight years of Democratic progress?”
O’Malley never mentioned Clinton by name in his speech, but when asked afterwards if the debate process had been conceived to give the former secretary of state an advantage, he reportedly responded: “Yes, I think so. Don’t you?”
The White House hopeful, who’s struggled to gain an edge in early primary polls, also blamed the DNC’s debate schedule for limiting the opportunities he and fellow candidates have to defend their principles against the GOP.
“[Republicans] malign our president’s record of achievement, they denigrate women and immigrant families. They doubled down, on trickle down, and they tell their false stories,” O’Malley said. “And, we respond — with crickets, tumbleweeds, a cynical move to delay and limit our own party debates.”
“How does this help us make our case to the American people?” he continued. “One debate in Iowa? That’s it? One debate in New Hampshire? That’s all we can afford?”
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has also decried the debate format during several campaign appearances and in a previous letter to Wasserman Schultz.
“At a time when many Americans are demoralized about politics and have given up on the political process, I think it’s imperative that we have as many debates as possible,” the self-described socialist senator said in a recent statement.
A spokesperson for the DNC told the Washington Post Friday that the four debates provide “plenty of opportunity for the candidates to be seen side-by-side.”
“I’m sure there will be lots of other forums for the candidates to make their case to voters, and that they will make the most out of every opportunity,” the spokesperson told the Post.
