WASHINGTON (WUSA9) – Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley thanked supporters tonight at an event marketed to Irish-Americans, and flashed a bit of dark Irish humor discussing his standing in the three-way Democratic presidential nomination race.
"One thing we know for sure is that whatever the polls say today, there's absolutely no resemblance to what the people of Iowa decide on caucus night," O'Malley said. " And thanks to your support we have firmly secured third place and we are moving up."
Buoyed in part by Vice President Biden's decision not to join the presidential Fray, O'Malley has seen a boost to his Iowa poll numbers of late. The Real Clear Politics average of polls in the Hawkeye state now has him drawing five percent support. Growth, sure, but still well behind frontrunner Hillary Clinton, who claims ten times as many supporters there.
Supporters say O'Malley will benefit from a smaller field of candidates on the debate stage the next time the Democratic candidates meet – next Saturday in Iowa, in a debate hosted by CBS News.
Tonight, O'Malley told reporters at his event he knows it is his job to draw more explicit contrasts with Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders if he wishes to establish himself as a credible alternative.
"With the introductory debate over, now is the time for compare and contrast. And we'll let the people decide. I'm a candidate who has actually gotten things done as an executive," O'Malley said. "I believe that's what our country needs."
Despite his resume, O'Malley remains mired in relative anonymity nationally; his struggle encapsulated in a joke caption attached to a photo that ran beside a column in the Wall Street Journal last week, labeling O'Malley as an "unidentified man" standing next to Clinton and Sanders.
In a statement to CNN, O'Malley's campaign spokesperson laughed off the caption.
On Thursday night WUSA9 asked the candidate when he thought the real lack of national recognition the joke caption referred to might become a problem.
"I think it becomes a problem after Iowa and New Hampshire, but if you look at any number of candidates, whether it was Bill Clinton in 1992 at this stage, or whether it was Jimmy Carter or Gary Hart. They were in the same spot that I was, but none of them had the opportunity to be on the debate platform with only two other candidates," O'Malley said.
On stage in the small but packed bar, O'Malley looked more comfortable than he did at the last debate; singing songs with the Irish band, and cracking jokes. He concluded his three song set by dedicating a song to Donald Trump: Woody' Guthrie's "This land is your land."
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