DES MOINES | In the wake of the jarring news that Hillary Clinton is poised to jump into the race, two other potential presidential candidates Friday night made their case to hundreds of Democrats in Iowa’s largest county.
Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley and former U.S. Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia spoke to roughly 350 Democrats at the Polk County party’s annual spring awards dinner at the UAW Local 450 labor hall. The event sold out, organizers said.
Earlier Friday, reports broke that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton soon -- perhaps as early as Sunday -- will make her candidacy for president official. If Clinton enters the race, multiple polls have shown she would be the prohibitive favorite to earn the Democratic nomination.
The polls suggest defeating Clinton would be an uphill climb for any challenger, including O’Malley and Webb.
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“I think she’s an eminently qualified candidate. And I think that in our party we have a lot of good leaders. And if leaders believe that they have the experience and the framework and the ideas to move our country forward, they should run, and they should engage with voters, and our country will be the better for it,” O’Malley told reporters shortly before the event.
O’Malley said he will decide whether to officially run for president “by the end of this spring.”
O’Malley has been a consistent presence in Iowa in recent months, including during the 2014 elections, when he campaigned with midterm candidates.
O’Malley said he learned from that experience and when he campaigned in Iowa three decades ago with presidential underdog Gary Hart about the way Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucus voters operate.
“The lessons I take from that race are that the people of Iowa make up their own minds, that they’re not intimidated by polls, they’re not persuaded by name recognition or big money. They are a people who take their responsibility very, very seriously,” O’Malley said.
O’Malley’s remarks were well-received Friday night. He drew the night’s only mid-speech standing ovation when he spoke about worker’s rights, advocating for an increased minimum wage and making it easier instead of more difficult for workers to join unions.
Gary Schmidt, vice chair of the Ankeny Area Democrats, said he believes O’Malley has a more populist message than Clinton.
“He’s my type of a politician. He reminds me of John F. Kennedy, just his personality and his charisma,” Schmidt said. “He’s going to have to show that he’s a populist Democrat. That’s why I like him. I like populist Democrats. I’m a (former U.S. Sen. Tom) Harkin fan.”
A central theme of Webb’s brief remarks was creating economic equality. The former Marine described his version of the American dream, telling the story of his wife, who was born in Vietnam and whose family fled when the country fell to communists.
He also highlighted his early opposition to the war in Iraq, saying that proved his willingness to stand up for his beliefs even when in the minority.
“It was not easy to say early that this was going to be a strategic error,” Webb said. “I said this is going to be a strategic blunder if we go in.”
