Martin O’Malley at the Des Moines Register’s Soap Box.
Two Democratic presidential candidates campaigned at the Iowa State Fair today. Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley used part of his turn on The Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox to take a small swipe at rival Hillary Clinton for failing to take many questions while she’s campaigning.
“I know that you want to meet each of the candidates once or twice or three or four or five times before you make your decision, right?” O’Malley said. “And you expect all of your candidates for president to do question-and-answer, otherwise it doesn’t make any sense to offer your candidacy for president. Isn’t that so?”
O’Malley also seemed to challenge Clinton to take a 20-minute turn on the “soapbox” at the fair as he and the three others candidates for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination are doing.
“There are many candidates for president in our party who will stand before you — maybe some of ’em might even come to the soapbox — and they will make progressive promises, but I am the only candidate in our party who can look you in the eye and tell you that in 15 years of executive experience as a big city mayor and as a governor, I have brought people together to make progressive accomplishments and get things done.”
Jim Webb at the Soap Box.
O’Malley said the crime rate in Baltimore dropped when he was mayor and when he was Maryland’s governor the state raised its minimum wage and made same-sex marriage legal.
Former Virginia Senator Jim Webb touted his service in the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War and his work as Secretary of the Navy during the Reagan Administration.
“The number one responsibility of the president of the United States is that burden of being your ‘commander in chief’ and making these ultimate decisions about foreign policy and when to use military force and when it is wise not to use military force,” Webb said.
Reporters at the Fair asked Webb about Clinton’s recent decision to give the private email server she used while secretary of state to the Justice Department, but he declined to comment. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Clinton, O’Malley and Lincoln Chafee are all scheduled to speak Friday evening at “The Iowa Wing-Ding” in Clear Lake that’s sponsored by Democrats in 23 Iowa counties.
(O’Malley photo courtesy of Martin O’Malley’s Twitter page/Jim Webb photo by Asya Akca)