O’Malley can hear you snickering, of course, and he knows what the race looks like from the outside

from Alex Seitz-Wald at MSNBC:



https://twitter.com/RachelPoliner/status/639571738729271297


____Running for president, even for front-runners, is often an act of humiliation. And Martin O’Malley is no front-runner. After going all in on Iowa and despite his impressive resume, the Des Moines Register’s final poll before the caucuses showed the former Baltimore mayor at just 3 percent.

He’s a favorite butt of jokes from reporters and rival campaign staffers, who poke fun at his colorful turns of phrases and poor polling.

But it’s easy to snark and harder to try. O’Malley’s underdog message of late has focused on the value of an earnest effort in a world of peanut gallery cynics, and even critics can’t help but admire his zealous tenacity.

And laugh all you want, but O’Malley and his team are having more fun than anyone else out there, and he’s got a good shot to beat your nonexistent expectations...



Jan. 7, Carl's Place in Des Moines, Martin O'Malley Unplugged: The #NewLeadership Tour


O’Malley can hear you sniggering, of course, and he knows what the race looks like from the outside. And yet he keeps showing up, spending more time in Iowa and holding far more events here than any his rivals.

So why does he do it? Why endure the little humiliations, like walking past 20-something reporters to squeeze himself into the rear rows of a Delta flight? And he endures the bigger ones, like the polls.

Why not go home to his family and live the lucrative life a former governor, instead of dealing with this crap?

It’s an objectively crazy thing to think you can and should be president, as even the pols who do it will tell you. But without the relentless optimism bordering on delusion shared by politicians and entrepreneurs, we would have no presidents or governors or iPhones.

O’Malley is a true believer who carries with him a pocket-sized book of Thomas Merton, the Catholic poet and mystic, that he reads every day (favorite book).

“I feel compelled,” he said.


read more: http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/striving-viability-one-brewpub-time


O'Malley at Grinnell 5 days ago - AP