Martin O'Malley insists he won't play Iowa kingmaker, tells supporters "hold strong"

Bridget Mulcahy @bridgetmulc
@MartinOMalley: Voting becoming "merely an act of protest rather than a creative choice" http://bit.ly/1RVCQaQ




Governor Martin O'Malley sits down with POLITICO's Glenn Thrush in Johnston, Iowa, to discuss what motivates him to keep campaigning despite low poll numbers, his parents' influence on his political career, the Celtic punk band The Pogues and why voting has become an "act of protest."

Listen: https://soundcloud.com/off-message/martin-omalley-insists-he-wont-play-iowa-kingmaker-tells-supporters-hold-strong


Glenn Thrush ?@GlennThrush
@MartinOMalley: HELL NO to role of caucus kingmaker - thinks supporters will skip 2nd ballot, snub Hillary/Bernie http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/martin-omalley-iowa-caucuses-sanders-clinton-218486 …

JOHNSTON, Iowa — Martin O’Malley may get soundly defeated by Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders here on Monday, but he won’t be a pawn in their game.

O’Malley, a chipper long-shot who has been driving his own car when his volunteers get too groggy, is rejecting his role as an Iowa caucus kingmaker— telling his supporters here they don’t have to vote for either Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders if he’s excluded from the final round of voting Monday night.

“The people who have stuck with me, the friends that I have… I think they are pretty resolute in their support for me,” he said during POLITICO’s “Off Message” podcast, which will be released Monday morning.

When I asked him if he was encouraging his backers to stick with him for the duration of the caucus, he said, “Yes,” adding, “My message to them is to hold strong.”

But O’Malley, tired but defiant as he paused between events on Sunday, said “many” of his backers have told him, “I’m caucusing for you and if we are not viable, I’m going home… This is a democratic process, people make their own free choices, but it’s my sense… there’s not a whole lot of enthusiasm going into the second round for the other two.”

O’Malley conceded that Clinton and Sanders would pick up some of his supporters, but he said that he was likely to poach more than a few Clintonites at college campus caucus sites where he and Sanders were the most popular candidates.

“It’s very possible that on college campuses we actually outperform Secretary Clinton and are neck and neck with Sanders...”


read: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/martin-omalley-iowa-caucuses-sanders-clinton-218486