May 29, 2015 2:08 p.m. ET
BALTIMORE—Settling into a pizza joint last week in Station North, an arts district once dominated by vacant buildings, presidential hopeful Martin O’Malley recalled the skepticism when, as mayor more than a decade ago, he suggested this city try reviving the area.
“Many people at the time laughed,” he said, “and all the smart people in Baltimore said, ‘Are you kidding me?’ ”
The same might be said for Mr. O’Malley’s underdog run for president, which he launches Saturday. In the Democratic primary, the 52-year-old Mr. O’Malley faces Hillary Clinton, who looms 50 points ahead of him and every other Democrat in polls. In April, President Barack Obama joked that Mr. O’Malley went unrecognized at his own campaign event.
Mr. O’Malley, who completed two terms as Maryland governor in January, professes no concern about Mrs. Clinton’s advantages. He often says history is littered with victories that were inevitable until the moment they weren’t.
His strategy: Cast himself as a more authentic liberal than Mrs. Clinton.
He is one of the few candidates working to channel dissatisfaction from the left with Mrs. Clinton, and one of the only Democrats in a position to capture the nomination if she falls.
Mr. O’Malley touts his eight years as governor, when he helped raise the minimum wage, enact strict gun restrictions, eliminate the death penalty and grant in-state tuition to some illegal immigrants. He eventually supported a successful move to legalize same-sex marriage. He backed tax increases and higher fees to continue services during the recession.
On the campaign trail, he adopts populist rhetoric, warning that without “sensible rebalancing” of wealth, there will be “pitchforks—lots of them.”
Yet he often finds Mrs. Clinton working to occupy the same lane, staking out liberal positions aimed at solidifying support inside the party. She repeatedly says the deck is stacked against the middle class. On immigration, she doesn’t just support President Obama’s controversial executive actions, she wants to expand them. Gay marriage? She’s for it. Universal prekindergarten? She wants it. Minimum wage? She’d raise it.
Mr. O’Malley has responded with the mildest criticism and subtle age contrasts: At 67, she is 15 years older. He regularly says America needs “new leadership” and a “new generation.”
He still plays in an Irish folk band, and on the campaign trail sometimes picks up a borrowed guitar, as he did in April at an Iowa bar.
A Clinton spokeswoman declined to comment on Mr. O’Malley’s campaign.
Mr. O’Malley has beat odds before, notably when elected the white mayor of majority-African-American Baltimore. Another example, he said in an interview, is the revitalization of Baltimore’s first designated arts district.
His fortunes probably depend on controversy tripping Mrs. Clinton. In the interview, as on the campaign trail, he passed up chances to opine on two controversies: foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation and her use of private email as secretary of state.
On policy, he has taken several positions to Mrs. Clinton’s left and is hoping to convince voters she is too centrist for today’s Democratic Party. He favors breaking up big banks, killing a pending Pacific Rim trade deal, expanding Social Security benefits and rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline. She has sidestepped these issues or remained silent.
Even so, he also battles Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent running in the Democratic primary, for the party’s most liberal voters. Mr. Sanders trails Mrs. Clinton but beats Mr. O’Malley in polls.
One of six siblings, Mr. O’Malley grew up in the Washington suburbs in an Irish-Catholic family steeped in politics. One grandfather was a Pittsburgh ward boss, the other a party chairman of an Indiana county. His parents met through Democratic politics. At his second birthday party, the cake’s icing read: “Martin for President 2004.”
In the 1984 presidential contest, he worked for Sen. Gary Hart, who challenged front-runner Walter Mondale for Democratic nomination. After law school, he settled in Baltimore with his wife, and they had four children. He was elected to the city council at 28.
With drug-related crime ravaging Baltimore, Mr. O’Malley embraced the “zero-tolerance” police strategy Mayor Rudolph Giuliani brought to New York City, which reasoned: Crack down on minor offenses and serious crimes will drop.
That was the core of his mayoral campaign against better-known opponents. He won the Democratic primary with 53% of the vote, then won the mayorship.
Under Mr. O’Malley, arrests rose and crime fell. Between 2000 and 2006, his last full year in office, Baltimore’s violent-crime rate dropped 31%, Federal Bureau of Investigation data show.
This record has been vital to the story he tells of himself as a crime fighter who harnessed data to drive policing resources. The image came under scrutiny after last month’s death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray from injuries during Baltimore-police custody.
Critics say Mr. O’Malley’s approach created lasting anger toward police. In 2006, plaintiffs including local NAACP branches sued Baltimore, alleging police arrested people without probable cause and claiming about 30% of those arrested in 2005 had charges quickly dropped—after they spent jail time and acquired arrest records that made it hard to find work.
In a 2010 settlement, the police department rejected zero-tolerance policing and agreed to retrain officers. The city denied wrongdoing.
“The things that we did in policing were necessary to do at that time,” Mr. O’Malley said. “Policing the police” was also a priority, he said, pointing to reductions in police-involved shootings.
Now he is taking his record to primary voters, with particular emphasis on Iowa, which he has visited six times since last June. Bill Hyers, his senior strategist, noted that Mrs. Clinton finished third in the 2008 Iowa caucuses. A candidate can win Iowa with hard work and little money, Mr. Hyers said, and being unknown means Mr. O’Malley can shape voter views. “Iowa’s a good state to grind it out in.”
He may find an audience. Some Democrats hunger for a primary that is a contest of ideas, not a Clinton coronation, and hope competition will prevent Mrs. Clinton from tacking to the center.
Before an April event in Indianola, Iowa, retiree Twila Glenn told Mr. O’Malley she was glad to see him on the national stage. He drew applause when he said America could fund his policies by asking the wealthiest to pay more “instead of offshoring their profits and offshoring their wealth.”
Ms. Glenn later said she was impressed but, for next year’s caucuses, had settled on Mrs. Clinton, whom Ms. Glenn favored for her leadership experience and early work on health care.
At the pizza place last week, Mr. O’Malley appeared relaxed and upbeat, chatting with a foot perched on the next seat. A well-wisher stopped to say he hoped Mr. O’Malley would run for president. The former mayor smiled warmly.
Does that happen often? “Not nearly enough,” Mr. O’Malley replied.
BALTIMORE—Settling into a pizza joint last week in Station North, an arts district once dominated by vacant buildings, presidential hopeful Martin O’Malley recalled the skepticism when, as mayor more than a decade ago, he suggested this city try reviving the area.
“Many people at the time laughed,” he said, “and all the smart people in Baltimore said, ‘Are you kidding me?’ ”
The same might be said for Mr. O’Malley’s underdog run for president, which he launches Saturday. In the Democratic primary, the 52-year-old Mr. O’Malley faces Hillary Clinton, who looms 50 points ahead of him and every other Democrat in polls. In April, President Barack Obama joked that Mr. O’Malley went unrecognized at his own campaign event.
Mr. O’Malley, who completed two terms as Maryland governor in January, professes no concern about Mrs. Clinton’s advantages. He often says history is littered with victories that were inevitable until the moment they weren’t.
His strategy: Cast himself as a more authentic liberal than Mrs. Clinton.
He is one of the few candidates working to channel dissatisfaction from the left with Mrs. Clinton, and one of the only Democrats in a position to capture the nomination if she falls.
Mr. O’Malley touts his eight years as governor, when he helped raise the minimum wage, enact strict gun restrictions, eliminate the death penalty and grant in-state tuition to some illegal immigrants. He eventually supported a successful move to legalize same-sex marriage. He backed tax increases and higher fees to continue services during the recession.
On the campaign trail, he adopts populist rhetoric, warning that without “sensible rebalancing” of wealth, there will be “pitchforks—lots of them.”
Yet he often finds Mrs. Clinton working to occupy the same lane, staking out liberal positions aimed at solidifying support inside the party. She repeatedly says the deck is stacked against the middle class. On immigration, she doesn’t just support President Obama’s controversial executive actions, she wants to expand them. Gay marriage? She’s for it. Universal prekindergarten? She wants it. Minimum wage? She’d raise it.
Mr. O’Malley has responded with the mildest criticism and subtle age contrasts: At 67, she is 15 years older. He regularly says America needs “new leadership” and a “new generation.”
He still plays in an Irish folk band, and on the campaign trail sometimes picks up a borrowed guitar, as he did in April at an Iowa bar.
A Clinton spokeswoman declined to comment on Mr. O’Malley’s campaign.
Mr. O’Malley has beat odds before, notably when elected the white mayor of majority-African-American Baltimore. Another example, he said in an interview, is the revitalization of Baltimore’s first designated arts district.
His fortunes probably depend on controversy tripping Mrs. Clinton. In the interview, as on the campaign trail, he passed up chances to opine on two controversies: foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation and her use of private email as secretary of state.
On policy, he has taken several positions to Mrs. Clinton’s left and is hoping to convince voters she is too centrist for today’s Democratic Party. He favors breaking up big banks, killing a pending Pacific Rim trade deal, expanding Social Security benefits and rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline. She has sidestepped these issues or remained silent.
Even so, he also battles Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent running in the Democratic primary, for the party’s most liberal voters. Mr. Sanders trails Mrs. Clinton but beats Mr. O’Malley in polls.
One of six siblings, Mr. O’Malley grew up in the Washington suburbs in an Irish-Catholic family steeped in politics. One grandfather was a Pittsburgh ward boss, the other a party chairman of an Indiana county. His parents met through Democratic politics. At his second birthday party, the cake’s icing read: “Martin for President 2004.”
In the 1984 presidential contest, he worked for Sen. Gary Hart, who challenged front-runner Walter Mondale for Democratic nomination. After law school, he settled in Baltimore with his wife, and they had four children. He was elected to the city council at 28.
With drug-related crime ravaging Baltimore, Mr. O’Malley embraced the “zero-tolerance” police strategy Mayor Rudolph Giuliani brought to New York City, which reasoned: Crack down on minor offenses and serious crimes will drop.
That was the core of his mayoral campaign against better-known opponents. He won the Democratic primary with 53% of the vote, then won the mayorship.
Under Mr. O’Malley, arrests rose and crime fell. Between 2000 and 2006, his last full year in office, Baltimore’s violent-crime rate dropped 31%, Federal Bureau of Investigation data show.
This record has been vital to the story he tells of himself as a crime fighter who harnessed data to drive policing resources. The image came under scrutiny after last month’s death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray from injuries during Baltimore-police custody.
Critics say Mr. O’Malley’s approach created lasting anger toward police. In 2006, plaintiffs including local NAACP branches sued Baltimore, alleging police arrested people without probable cause and claiming about 30% of those arrested in 2005 had charges quickly dropped—after they spent jail time and acquired arrest records that made it hard to find work.
In a 2010 settlement, the police department rejected zero-tolerance policing and agreed to retrain officers. The city denied wrongdoing.
“The things that we did in policing were necessary to do at that time,” Mr. O’Malley said. “Policing the police” was also a priority, he said, pointing to reductions in police-involved shootings.
Now he is taking his record to primary voters, with particular emphasis on Iowa, which he has visited six times since last June. Bill Hyers, his senior strategist, noted that Mrs. Clinton finished third in the 2008 Iowa caucuses. A candidate can win Iowa with hard work and little money, Mr. Hyers said, and being unknown means Mr. O’Malley can shape voter views. “Iowa’s a good state to grind it out in.”
He may find an audience. Some Democrats hunger for a primary that is a contest of ideas, not a Clinton coronation, and hope competition will prevent Mrs. Clinton from tacking to the center.
Before an April event in Indianola, Iowa, retiree Twila Glenn told Mr. O’Malley she was glad to see him on the national stage. He drew applause when he said America could fund his policies by asking the wealthiest to pay more “instead of offshoring their profits and offshoring their wealth.”
Ms. Glenn later said she was impressed but, for next year’s caucuses, had settled on Mrs. Clinton, whom Ms. Glenn favored for her leadership experience and early work on health care.
At the pizza place last week, Mr. O’Malley appeared relaxed and upbeat, chatting with a foot perched on the next seat. A well-wisher stopped to say he hoped Mr. O’Malley would run for president. The former mayor smiled warmly.
Does that happen often? “Not nearly enough,” Mr. O’Malley replied.
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