Probably because I felt a bit guilty as the source of a lot of shocked discoveries by writers that Martin O’Malley was a big-time DLCer not that long ago, I decided to spend my weekly TPMCafe column kicking around the proposition that the O’Malley campaign’s real inspiration is the Hart campaign of 1984, where Martin and a lot of his current national network of supporters made their bones. It actually made some of O’Malley’s ideological ambivalence–not to mention his belief that he offers the Democratic Party something different than a younger version of Sanders or Clinton–easier to understand.

So here’s the first reaction I got on Twitter:

Well, so much for offering a more positive take on the O’Malley candidacy.

Our ideas can save democracy... But we need your help! Donate Now!

Ed Kilgore

Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.