Tag Archives: martin O’Malley

Democratic Debate: Candidates Clash on Foreign Policy, Fighting ISIS

In the wake of a series of terror attacks in Paris on Friday that left over 100 people dead and 99 in critical condition, CBS announced that it would shift the focus of Saturday’s Democratic presidential debate to include discussion of the attacks, which led to an array of commentary from the three candidates.

Steve Capus, the executive editor of CBS News and the executive producer of CBS Evening News, said that when the news team learned about the attack during rehearsals on Friday, they “immediately shifted gears and reformulated questions to make them more directly related to the attacks” for Saturday night’s debate.

“American leadership is put to the test,” Capus said. “The entire world is looking to the White House. These people are vying to take over this office.”

CNN Alters Democratic Debate Criteria to Expand Stage, Allow Last-Minute Biden Entry

CNN adjusted the candidates’ criteria on Monday for its two-hour televised Democratic presidential debate, the first of the season, which will take place at 9 p.m. EST on October 13 at the Wynn Las Vegas hotel and casino.

The Hill is reporting that CNN has expanded the range of dates in which a candidate must meet a 1 percent minimum support requirement in 3 major national polls from 6 weeks prior to the debate to any time between August 1 to October 10 in order to include low-polling former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee. CNN has also tweaked the rules to include any qualified candidate that publicly announces his or her candidacy by the day of the debate, clearing a path for Vice President Joe Biden to participate if he decides to run.

In addition to Chafee, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I- Vt.), former U.S. Senator Jim Webb, and former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley have been invited to face off in the contest.

Though Vice President Biden has yet to decide whether he will enter the race, he has already received substantial levels of support in several qualified major national polls. A newly-released NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found Biden in third place with 17 percent support.

Speaking on the adjustments to accommodate potential candidate Joe Biden, former Democratic National Committee communications director Mo Elleithee, who was reportedly involved in planning the debates, told Politico, “I think it’s the right thing to do. Given everything that’s going on, no one wants to be accused of trying to keep any candidate off the stage. This ensures that no one is. Can you imagine any scenario where Biden announces his candidacy and is not allowed on that stage? It would more or less invalidate the debate if he announced and wasn’t on stage.

University of Michigan director of debate Aaron Kall told The Hill, “Having candidates that don’t have anything to lose is potentially dangerous to front-runners. It only increases the chances of them trying to do a Hail Mary [pass] or land a zinger that can really hurt the leading candidates.

[RELATED: DONEGAN: If GOP Debate Stage Can Fit 11, Let Third Parties In General Election Debates]

The ratings-focused mainstream media hopes that Biden will jump in the race to set up a Clinton-Biden showdown. University of Virginia Center for Politics political analyst Geoffrey Skelley said, “There’s no question the media wants Biden to run; from the drama standpoint, having Biden and Clinton go at it really raises the bar.

Skelley added, commenting on the inclusion of lower-polling candidates, “On the campaign trail [the Democratic candidates have] been a little reticent to overly criticize [Clinton] but they might if they realize this is their one shot. Sanders actually might benefit in that sense that if he is in a position where the three lower-tier guys are attacking Clinton.

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper has been tapped to moderate the debate with help from correspondent Dana Bash, anchor Don Lemon, and CNN en Espanol anchor Juan Carlos.

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O’Malley Says Debates Are ‘Rigged’ For Hillary, Gets Hit With DEATH STARE From DNC Chair

By Christian Datoc  (DC) – Former Gov. Martin O’Malley hammered the Democratic National Committee’s decision to host four — and only four — debates leading up to the primary while speaking at the DNC Summer Meeting Friday

“Four debates and only four debates — we are told, not asked — before voters in our earliest states make their decision,” said O’Malley. “This sort of rigged process has never been attempted before. One debate in Iowa. That’s it. One debate in New Hampshire. That’s all we can afford.”

Over the past month, O’Malley has been critical of the DNC’s apparent, early anointment of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the party’s nominee. On Thursday he said that Democrats were making, “a big mistake… as a party to circle the wagons around the inevitable front-runner,” and it would appear DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz is not the biggest fan of O’Malley’s criticism.

WATCH:

Martin O’Malley Lawyer Calls DNC Debates ‘Legally Problematic’

By Shawn M. Griffiths (IVN) – Do the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) primary debate plans violate federal election rules? MSNBC reported Tuesday that an attorney for Democratic presidential candidate Martin O’Malley believes that this is a very real possibility.

MSNBC reports:

[quote_box_center]“The DNC last week announced the schedule for its six presidential primary debates, including four before the Iowa Caucuses and two afterwards. O’Malley and fellow candidate Bernie Sanders came out against the schedule, demanding, as they have for months, more chances to face off on stage against front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Of particular concern to O’Malley is the DNC’s exclusivity requirement, which would punish candidates and debate sponsors who participate in unsanctioned debates by barring them from participating in remaining official events. The DNC’s goal was to limit the unwieldy sprawl of the last Democratic primary in 2008, when the number of debates mushroomed to about two dozen.”[/quote_box_center]

“Entirely unprecedented” and “legally problematic” are the words O’Malley attorney Joe Sandler used to describe the DNC debates. Specifically, Sandler says the exclusivity clause is “legally unenforceable.”

In a recent memo, Sandler writes that under Federal Election Commission rules, the format and structure cannot be controlled by any party or candidate committee, but must be decided by the debate sponsor(s). In the case of the 6 primary debates currently scheduled, there are a total of 10 media outlets and one nonprofit sponsoring the events.

Sandler writes:

[quote_box_center]“Legally the DNC cannot dictate the format or structure of any debate sponsored by a media outlet or 501(c)(3) organization – including the criteria for participation. Therefore, it would be legally problematic if any of the sponsors of the sanctioned debates has actually agreed to the ‘exclusivity’ requirement. And in any event, it is highly unlikely that any of those sponsors of the sanctioned debates would ultimately be willing to enforce that ‘exclusivity’ requirement.”[/quote_box_center]

Sandler served on the DNC’s general counsel from 1993 to 2008. He says the Democratic Party has never used an exclusivity rule in the past. In fact, Sandler said all major Democratic candidates in 2008, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, participated in unsanctioned debates.

Both O’Malley and Bernie Sanders blasted the DNC after it released the debate schedule. Both candidates believe there should be more debates.

“Shame on us as a party if the DNC tries to limit debate,” O’Malley said.“I believe we need more debates, not fewer debates. And I think it’s outrageous, actually, that the DNC would try to make this process decidedly undemocratic.”

“At a time when many Americans are demoralized about politics and have given up on the political process, I think it’s imperative that we have as many debates as possible — certainly more than six,” Sanders remarked.

Read the full memo:

Hillary Caught in an email lie, “youthful” O’Malley to announce presidential run

When Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s private email scandal broke, Hillary claimed her using her private e-mail for matters of state was a matter of convenience. She didn’t want to complicate things by carrying two phones.

But, she’s complicating things even further. The New York Times revealed another Clinton private email address. hrod17@clintonemail.com.

One of her attorneys had previously denied the existence of this second email address.

“As explained in my March 4th, 2015 email to your Staff Director and certain others, “hrod17@clintonemail.com” is not an address that existed during Secretary Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State,” the statement read.

Then, they could no longer deny it, because the New York Times published emails related to Libya, and hrod17@clintonemail.com was among the fray. The dates were definitely during Clinton’s tenure as Secretary of State.

As an expected political response, Clinton, at a campaign event in Iowa said, “I want those emails out.”

Then there is the Clinton Cash scandal. According to Vox.com, Hillary Clinton financially benefited “personally” from a large speaking fee paid by Corning, Inc., a company that lobbied her during her tenure as Secretary of State.

With all the scandal surrounding Team Hillary, many Democrats are attracted to former Maryland Governor Martin O’ Malley.

O’Malley told CNN that he wants to emphasize his “youthfulness,” and a less scripted, more accessible presidential campaign.

O’Malley even used SnapChat to hint at expected presidential announcement location.

Even Bill Clinton wrote O’Malley in 2002 stating: “I won’t be surprised if you go all the way.”

According to CNN, O’Malley’s campaign is likely to produce several more similar videos leading up to the announcement.

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