How Do You Campaign For Your Dad In Iowa? Ask Martin O’Malley’s Teenage Son.

And yes, he knows the former governor wears “dad jeans.”

Getting a call from a candidate’s son is enough to stop them in their tracks.

“Hello Mrs. Bell, I’m calling because my dad, Martin O’Malley is running to be the Democratic nominee for president,” he says into the phone. He pauses, then invites her to a number of events the presidential candidate will be hosting without even looking at his computer screen, an indication that he’s been at this for hours and has the schedule memorized.

“It’s usually a bit of a chuckle at first,” said William O’Malley, the presidential candidate’s teenage son, “but then they feel like they can ask me stuff about my dad that they may feel weird asking a field organizer.” . .

A rising high school senior, William is spending his summer applying to colleges, but he still finds time to hit the road, traveling across the state of Iowa and visiting with voters with or without his father. Campaigning helps him connect with his father, he said, who also pounded the pavement here working for a long-shot candidate as a teenager. The former Maryland governor cut his teeth in politics in 1984, mobilizing voters in the Hawkeye State for presidential candidate Gary Hart ahead of the caucus.

“He was 19 years old and lived off nothing but peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,” the younger O’Malley said. “He really just worked his butt off, living on people’s couches, he even slept in a bathtub.”

Of course, like any teenager, William is well aware of his dad’s quirks.

“It’s kind of weird in some ways when it comes to his dad jeans and his weird music taste,” he said with a laugh. “When it comes to his qualities as a leader, I think that’s really amazing.”

Working on a campaign has its ups and downs, he said, admitting the stress has gotten to him a few times. The family has learned to adapt to all the media attention putting their every move under a microscope, he added.



“I mean, of course it’s hurtful to see untrue or negative things said about my dad,” William, who is one of four children, said. “At the same time, that’s what is to be expected. If you think you deserve to be president, you need to be out here taking hard questions, taking hits.”

The teenager's key to staying upbeat is to keep everyone working on the campaign laughing. When he's on the road with his father, they do comedy routines with one another, he said.

“One of our favorite songs in our family that me and my dad dance to is Taylor Swift’s ‘Shake it Off’,” he said with a smirk. “That’s
definitely playing in our heads, and in our kitchen a lot.” . .

William O’Malley said the campaign isn’t paying attention to the polls. Instead, it's focusing on gaining support one voter at a time. On his most recent trip to Iowa, William collected nearly a dozen commit to caucus cards and was even personally invited to a meal on a voter’s farm in Marshalltown. 

"The first thing that comes to mind when I think about my dad is that he is just a relentless guy," he said.

"Slow and steady wins the race," he added. “If there’s anyone that can win the caucuses come February and anybody that can work as hard as he can every day, it’s going to be my dad.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/martin-omalley-son-campaigns_55cb9744e4b0923c12bf0d56