Iowans like Martin O'Malley, even if they're not voting for him

It's a cold night as Martin O'Malley makes his pitch to about 85 mostly senior and middle-aged Iowans spread under the fluorescent lights of a Waukee middle school lunchroom.

Just 18 miles away at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, firebrand Bernie Sanders soon will go on stage before 1,600 cheering people while songs by John Lennon and Steve Earle pump out over them. Sanders has grabbed the spotlight as the top left-wing threat to Hillary Clinton, a lane some once thought might belong to the handsome, singing former Maryland governor — younger than his rivals by nearly two decades.

The only staging for O'Malley on this recent Saturday night is a blue and red campaign banner hung by staffers from two folded tables normally used during the week by hungry teens.

These are not the trappings of a popular, surging candidate. But before O'Malley gives his stump speech, with his sleeves rolled up and no microphone, he shakes each person's hand in front of a table stacked with sandwiches, baked beans and chicken fingers. He answers audience questions for 45 minutes, like he has in coffee shops, art galleries, Irish pubs and union halls across the state.

This folksy charm has earned O'Malley only a sliver of support from likely caucusgoers: A Des Moines Register/Bloomberg News Iowa Poll released Jan. 14 pegged O'Malley's support at 4 percent. But he's also received good vibes from many Iowans.

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His favorability has climbed from 13 percent a year ago to 48 percent today, nearly five times the 10 percent of likely Democratic caucusgoers who have an unfavorable opinion of him, Des Moines Register/Bloomberg News polling data show.

Jayme Neiman, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Northern Iowa, said O'Malley is well-positioned — for a future race.

"One of the things that I've heard the most is, 'Even though I'm not going to vote for him for president, I'd really like to see him do something,'" Neiman said.

"He's got great ideas, he's got a proven track record and he's a real humanitarian," said Barb Besch, 65, a Bellevue resident who said she's leaning toward Clinton but saw O'Malley during a Friday night visit to a Dubuque pub. "I know he's a great guy."

18 Photos: Martin O'Malley campaigns at Carl's Place

An 'outsider' on national stage, O'Malley impresses with retail approach

On the debate stage, O'Malley has suffered some televised awkwardness,  acknowledges Susan Daniels, 69, a retired Newton property manager and a precinct captain for the former Maryland governor. Journalists jumped on O'Malley during a December debate for a seemingly canned line chastising Clinton and Sanders for "bickering" with each other even though they had just come to a truce.

"It's almost like he's the outsider, kind of like a fish out of water," Daniels said of O'Malley's debate performances. "He has not been given the opportunity to truly show who he is and how much command he has of a group of people."

Indeed, in the national spotlight O'Malley has often appeared frustrated by forces that he argues have kept down his campaign, in particular the Democratic National Committee, said Kedron Bardwell, chair of the Simpson College political science department. Where O'Malley has been effective is using his personality to win people over at small events in Iowa, where he's spent more time than either of his rivals, Bardwell said. O'Malley's spent 60 days in the state since 2012 — 10 more than Sanders and 22 more than Clinton.

"I think his personality comes through when you get him in the smaller group setting," Bardwell said. "When he gets into larger groups, he sounds a little more pragmatic. Where O'Malley shines is where he's able to show his passion."

O'Malley's skill working a crowd comes through at a Friday night campaign stop as he stands in the middle of 100 people sitting inside the Davenport local of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.

He calls on Ed Curley, 54, a stout civilian machinist at the Rock Island Arsenal, who asks about the federal budget cuts known as sequestration. The cuts were passed as part of an effort to reduce the national deficit. Curley tells the candidate that the cuts have led to unpaid furloughs for him and his co-workers.

"Rock Island Arsenal — largest employer in the Quad Cities, right?" O'Malley shoots back after Curly introduces himself.

"Yes, sir," the machinist says.

"8,400 people, right?" O'Malley responds before denouncing the budget cuts. "I think sequestration cuts are mindless, and I think they're dangerous."

It's a small moment that demonstrates what have been two hallmarks of O'Malley's campaign: nearly unfettered access for Iowans and a love on O'Malley's part for getting into numbers and policy talk, sometimes deeply.

"Sequestration is a topic that most candidates aren't going to talk about, because most of the public doesn't know about it," said Curley, who plans to caucus for O'Malley. "He had the information to answer it and answer it fully. That's what I like."

This campaign style is what has made O'Malley stand out for Glenn Leach, 73, a Davenport resident who worked himself at the arsenal as a safety engineer.

"O'Malley is willing to meet with the people more than I think any of the others," he said "I was at a gathering here in Davenport for Bernie, which had a large number of people, but he was in, he made his presentation and he was gone. The governor is still here."

Photos: Martin O'Malley visits Iowa City

'I've never been known to leave an Irish bar early'

O'Malley talks proudly about his Irish heritage — tracing through his father's family — especially when taking stances on immigration on the campaign trail. He says he loves Shane MacGowan of the Irish punk-rock band The Pogues, and fronts his own band, O'Malley's March, back home in Maryland.

These are the unscripted moments and traits that endear O'Malley to many Iowans, said Neiman, the UNI political science professor, even if that embrace hasn't translated into caucus support. "He likes chatting, he likes getting into a groove with the audience," she said. "He likes playing his guitar. It doesn't appear gimmicky with him."

Later in the evening last Friday, O'Malley stands above the crowd at Murph's Tap in Dubuque, with its green walls and sign behind the bar advertising a drink called the "Irish Trash Can" for $6. An Irish flag flanks O'Malley to his right.

"Have any of you seen the movie, 'The Big Short?' " O'Malley asks the crowd while talking about the need to put "cops back on Wall Street."

"It's a scary movie," a woman yells back.

"It's a scary movie because we still haven't done the things we should've done after learning the lesson of the big crash," O'Malley responds. "If a bank's too big to fail, too big to jail and too big to manage, then it's too damn big."

"I've never been known to leave an Irish bar early," O'Malley says just before he finishes. He stays more than 40 minutes longer, shaking hands and listening to Iowans before leaving for the drive to Cedar Rapids.

Standing by the bar, Helene McGee, 66, credited O'Malley with running a "Jimmy Carter"-style campaign that has made Iowans more familiar with him as Feb. 1 gets closer. Carter started out struggling with being a relative unknown before a second-place finish in the 1976 caucus, behind only the "uncommitted" vote, launched his path to the White House.

"This is a Jimmy Carter-type campaign because the media didn't know who Jimmy Carter was," said McGee, who writes for a small Dubuque newspaper covering union issues. "O'Malley is coming to small places like this, and he's doing the one-on-one retail politics."

But Carter wasn't facing the likes of someone as universally known as Hillary Clinton, McGee noted. Many of her supporters have felt "it was her turn," she said.

10 Photos: Martin O'Malley at West Des Moines library

'I hope I never let you down'

At 11:30 the next morning, a group of volunteers sits around a table, phones and voter lists in hand, in their quest to turn O'Malley into a president.

One of the volunteers takes a phone call from a Quinnipiac University pollster hoping to know  what she thinks about each Democratic candidate for president. "Martin O'Malley," she responds in amusement each time the pollster asks who's best to lead on gun control and other issues. There is laughter around the office (three days later, that fresh round of polling would show O'Malley still languishing at 4 percent).

And while she's still on the phone, O'Malley comes in from the January cold to visit the field office and offer words of encouragement as fast he can in between a short news conference staged outside a Cedar Rapids gun show and a two-hour drive to Des Moines.

"I hope I never let you down," he says. "I am going to speak truthfully and fearlessly and call forward the goodness within. ... I know we have a real shot here to recast this race."

Though seemingly working against the odds, volunteer Keith Houser, 33, believes O'Malley has all the right qualities to make 2016 his year. Houser rode an Amtrak train to Iowa from Spokane, Washington, in December to volunteer for the campaign in the lead-up to Feb. 1.

"Right now he's the youngest, and he won't have that same advantage four or eight years from now," he said. "Now is the moment."

Photos: Martin O'Malley campaigns across Iowa

About Martin O'Malley

Age: 53. His birthday was Monday

Family: Wife, Katie O'Malley; daughters, Grace and Tara; and sons William and Jack. 

Previous elected office: O'Malley served two terms as mayor of Baltimore before being elected to two terms as Maryland's governor. Before that he served on the Baltimore City Council. 

Top three issues

Immigration: O'Malley advocates for comprehensive immigration reform that would provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. He's said one of his first moves would be to use an executive order to protect more groups of undocumented immigrants from deportation, such as parents of immigrants who've already received protection through the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Under his plan, the U.S. would detain undocumented immigrants only if they posed a public safety threat.

Environment: O'Malley believes that the federal government needs to fight climate change and could use that fight to boost the U.S. economy. He's called for powering America's electric grid fully from renewable sources by 2050, as well as for creating a clean energy job corps to retrofit buildings across the country and make them more energy efficient, as well as undertaking other projects. He opposes new permits for drilling off Alaska, Antarctica and the U.S. coasts.

Foreign relations: O'Malley has argued throughout the campaign that the next era of warfare for the U.S. will not be based on boots-on-the-ground offensives, but on working with allies to identify rising threats and neutralize them before they require military involvement. O'Malley has said the U.S. needs better human intelligence to determine how a variety of factors, including climate change, will affect unstable regions.

Trademark joke

O'Malley has often talked about his family's heritage on the trail. "I'm part Irish on my dad's side, German on my mom's side, which means I like to give orders but I don't like to take them." 

Eating on the trail

On Saturday, Jan. 9, O'Malley started with coffee, a banana and some mixed fruit. After a 10:30 a.m. press conference outside a gun show, he stopped with staff for coffee at Riley's Cafe in Cedar Rapids and got scrambled eggs, bacon, hash browns and biscuits and gravy that he ate in the car on a trip to Des Moines. 

O'Malley ate a Subway roast beef sandwich before a 6:30 p.m. stop in Waukee. After the event, he ate at Biaggis Italian Restaurant in West Des Moines with his Iowa campaign co-chair, George Appleby, and staff.

On the clock

O'Malley stayed overnight on Friday, Jan. 9, with a supporter in the Cedar Rapids area. Here was his schedule for the next day.

9:15-9:45 a.m. O'Malley called in and did a live interview with KMA Radio in out of Council Bluffs. He ate breakfast after finishing the interview. 

10:30 a.m. He spoke at a press conference to tout his gun control policy record outside of a gun show being held at Hawkeye Downs.

11:30 a.m. O'Malley stopped for coffee at Riley's Cafe with staff members and picked up his lunch to-go before stopping into his Cedar Rapids field office to give a pep talk to volunteers. 

2 p.m. O'Malley spoke for an hour at the Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement Action Fund's "Putting Families First" forum ahead of rival Bernie Sanders.

3-6:30 p.m. O'Malley did a variety of things, including working out at a Gold's Gym in West Des Moines ahead of an evening campaign stop. He also made phone calls to supporters and to his mother, Barbara O'Malley, to wish her a happy birthday.

6:30 p.m. O'Malley appeared at a campaign stop at Waukee's Timberline Middle School. After the event he ate at Biaggis Italian Restaurant with staff and his campaign co-chair, George Appleby, before staying overnight at Appleby's house.