By, Siraj Hashmi
Martin O'Malley is trying to blaze a new trail by butting heads with the Democratic National Committee over the debate schedule as many candidates in the Democratic Party are growing more eager to debate the issues.
The former two-term Governor of Maryland spoke at a DNC event last Friday in Minneapolis, where he slammed DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the rest of the party leadership for limiting the number of debates among the five declared candidates for the nomination.
"We are the Democratic Party, not the Undemocratic Party," O'Malley proclaimed. "If we are to debate debates, the topic should be how many, not how few."
Even Bernie Sanders wants more debates. The Independent Senator from Vermont who's inching closer to Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton in the polls has been very vocal on getting on the debate stage.
On CNN's State of the Union on Sunday, Sanders said, "I think that that is dead wrong and I have let the leadership of the Democrats know that. I think the country benefits, all people benefit, democracy benefits when we have debates and I want to see more of them. I think that debates are a good thing."
O'Malley, who has been polling nationally at 2 percent according to the Real Clear Politics average, was particularly peeved with Democratic leadership for restricting the amount of discourse that could ultimately harm the party.
"The Republicans stand before the nation, malign our president's record of achievements, denigrate women and immigrant families, double-down on trickle-down, and tell their false story. We respond with crickets, tumbleweeds, and a cynical move to delay and limit our own party debates. Four debates and only four debates--we are told, not asked--before voters in our earliest states make their decision. This is totally unprecedented in our party. This sort of rigged process has never been attempted before."
When asked the obvious question by a member of the press if O'Malley believed the debate schedule was "rigged" in favor of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, he responded with a resounding, "Yes, I think so, don't you?"
While Clinton is under investigation for her handling of emails while she was with the State Department, she's currently polling at 49 percent nationally, according to RCP. Clinton is 24 points ahead of Sanders, who is in second, and 47 points ahead of O'Malley.
O'Malley has been traveling throughout the country to get more face-to-face time with voters, particularly millennials.
We spoke with the former governor to hear more about his vision for millennials as well as to address some recent controversy when he was confronted by Black Lives Matter protesters at the Netroots Nation event.
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