Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley is considering a run for president in 2016, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
In an interview, the Democratic governor said he couldn't wait for Hillary Rodham Clinton to decide if she's running to start his own campaign.
"I have a great deal of respect for Hillary Clinton," O'Malley said. "But for my own part, I have a responsibility to prepare and to address the things that I feel a responsibility to address...To squander this important period of preparation because of horse-race concerns and handicapping concerns is just not a very productive use of energy...Right now, I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing -- the thought work and the preparation work."
O'Malley added he's met with foreign- and domestic-policy experts to discuss "a better way forward for our country" and argued he would be a good president "for these times especially."
In a report by the Washington Post, sources claim O'Malley will not run if Clinton decides to enter the race given her popularity. Additionally, he has been a loyal political ally of Clinton, being the second governor to endorse her in 2008.
However, O'Malley said in the interview that "at this point," a potential bid from Clinton is not a heavy factor and did not disclose how soon he would launch a campaign, claiming there is "not an infinite window unless you start with 100 percent name recognition, in which case you can wait until the very end. People who don't have that need a greater amount of lead time for preparation."
A Washington Post survey demonstrated Clinton has a 7-to-1 lead over O'Malley in Maryland with Democratic voters, making his potential bid a risk even in his home state. Last week, a poll showed Clinton was the primary choice for president among Democratic and Democratic-leaning Independents nationwide.
U.S. House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer (D-MD) said that although O'Malley would make an "excellent" president, Clinton remains the "odds-on favorite of most Democrats" if she ran.
