Martin O’Malley raised strong doubts about Hillary Clinton – a rare Democratic dissent – while Republicans began positioning themselves for serious runs at the White House Sunday.
O’Malley, who in January stepped down as governor of Maryland after eight years, told ABC’s “This Week” of Clinton, “Let's be honest here, the presidency of the United States is not some crown to be passed between two families, it is an awesome and sacred trust that to be earned, and exercised on behalf of the American people.”
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, brother and son of former presidents, is a favorite for the Republican presidential nomination.
Would Clinton confront special interests, he was asked? “I don't know where she stands. Will she represent a break with the failed policies of the past? Well, I don't know,” O’Malley said.
O’Malley is seriously considering a run for the Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton is far ahead of him and every other potential contender among Democrats in poll after poll.
He chaired Clinton’s Maryland campaign when she sought the 2008 nomination. Sunday, though, he said, “I believe that there are new perspectives that are needed in order for us to solve the problems that we face as Americans and also the problems that we face as people on this planet. And I believe that new perspective and new leadership is needed.”
On the Republican front, former business executive Carly Fiorina told “Fox News Sunday” there was a “higher than 90 percent” chance she would seek her party’s nomination. She said she is thinking of announcing in late April or early May, and at this point would be the only Republican woman in the race.
“We need to make sure we have the right team in place, that we have the right support, that we have the right financial resources lined up, just as all the other potential candidates are doing,” she said.
Fiorina said she may run “because I have a deep understanding of how the economy actually works, having started as a secretary and become the chief executive of the largest technology company in the world because I understand how the world works and know many of the world leaders on the stage today because I understand technology, a transformational tool, because I understand bureaucracies.”
Also appearing on a Sunday talk show was former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. The winner of the 2008 Iowa caucus and a favorite of evangelical voters, he told CBS’ “Face the Nation” he’s more than a Christian candidate.
“My base is really beyond just evangelicals. I think a lot of people perceive that,” Huckabee said. “And certainly they're an important part of the base that I enjoyed back in 2008. But I think the untold secret is that a lot of the support that I had and that I anticipate that I will have is from the working-class blue-collar people who grew up a lot like I did, not blue blood, but blue-collar.
“And there's a real sense in the Republican Party that there's no one speaking not only to them, but speaking for them,” he said, “and if someone can capture both the blue-collar working-class Republicans, the conservatives, many of them even union members, as well as evangelicals, there's real pathway to the nomination.”