--- title: Martin O'Malley Faces Poll Test To Qualify For Next Debate description: The underdog's hard road continues canonical: https://time.com/4172949/martin-omalley-democratic-debate-poll/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-08T16:29:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:56:35.440Z article:section: Politics og:title: Martin O'Malley Faces Poll Test To Qualify For Next Debate og:description: The underdog's hard road continues og:url: https://time.com/4172949/martin-omalley-democratic-debate-poll/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c4184e2f7ec2bf4/69887832cd1bba64386fed8f/martin-omalley-debate1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5184 og:image:height: 2916 og:image:alt: Martin OMalley og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Martin O'Malley Faces Poll Test To Qualify For Next Debate twitter:description: The underdog's hard road continues twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c4184e2f7ec2bf4/69887832cd1bba64386fed8f/martin-omalley-debate1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Martin O'Malley Faces Test To Qualify For Next Democratic Debate > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=24e7cf7d-8049-492d-89f9-e5101bc95c89&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: The Third Democratic Debate, In Under Two Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): The Third Democratic Debate, In Under Two Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lTPNqlFm.m3u8) (1:54)  _Published 2015-12-20. Here are the highlights from the final Democratic debate of 2015._ by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Jan 8, 2016 4:29 PM UTC  Democratic presidential candidate, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley pauses as he speaks at the West Des Moines Public Library in West Des Moines, Iowa, Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016. Democratic presidential candidate, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley pauses as he speaks at the West Des Moines Public Library in West Des Moines, Iowa, Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016. Andrew Harnik—AP by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Jan 8, 2016 4:29 PM UTC **Correction appended, Jan. 8** Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley faces a polling test in the next week in order to make the next Democratic primary debate on Jan. 17, under qualifications announced Friday by NBC, the hosting network. NBC is requiring candidates to average at least 5% nationally, or in one of the early states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, in order to participate in the debate. O’Malley, who has participated in the first Democratic debates, is currently polling at 6.3% in the RealClearPolitics average of polls in Iowa. He doesn’t yet meet that threshold in New Hampshire, where he is polling at about 2.3%, South Carolina, where he sits at 2.5%, or nationally, where he averages about 3.5%. If he failed to meet the qualifications, it would be just the latest snub for O’Malley, who has complained that the Democratic National Committee limited the field to just six debates, a sum he believes was reached to shield front runner Hillary Clinton from additional contests. Clinton would now only face insurgent Vermont Sen Bernie Sanders on stage, in the final debate before the Iowa Caucuses. O’Malley’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In an interview Wednesday, Vice President Joe Biden appeared to leave O’Malley out when discussing the state of the Democratic race. “We’ve got two good candidates,” Biden said, before praising the “robust debate” within the party. **Correction**: The original version of this story incorrectly described Martin O’Malley’s standing in the polls. He is currently eligible to participate in the coming NBC Democratic debate. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Does secretary Clinton deserve an apology tonight? Yes, I apologize. We should move on because I don't think the American people are all that interested in this. [ MUSIC ] We're listening to the bickering back and forth. Maybe that's normal politics in Washington, but that is not the politics of higher purpose the people expect from our party. [ MUSIC ] And excuse me, no. Governor, now to be able to abide by the rules here, we'll call on you shortly. But I do wanna pick up on something. Actually passed, Comprehensive guns, safety legislation with a ban on combat assault weapons David. [ MUSIC ] They want American soldiers on the ground fighting them. [ MUSIC ] Giving them many more targets, and giving them a great recruiting opportunity. I believe in action, in which we put together a strong coalition of forces. [ MUSIC ] Out of pocket costs have gone up too much. And prescription drug costs have gone through the roof. The greed of wall street is destroying this economy. And it's destroying the lives of millions of Americans. This one falls under the category of " I have actually done this ". I believe that all of our kids should go into an income- based repayment plan. [ mmm ] [ MUSIC ] Must never surrender them to the fascist pleas of billionaires with big mouths. He is becoming ISIS's best recruiter. They are going to people showing videos- [ APPLAUSE ] Of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4172949/martin-omalley-democratic-debate-poll/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4172949/martin-omalley-democratic-debate-poll/"},"headline":"Martin O'Malley Faces Test To Qualify For Next Democratic Debate","datePublished":"2016-01-08T16:29:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:56:35.440Z","description":"The underdog's hard road continues","url":"https://time.com/4172949/martin-omalley-democratic-debate-poll/","keywords":["Debates","Hillary Clinton","Bernie Sanders","Martin O'malley","democratic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c4184e2f7ec2bf4/69887832cd1bba64386fed8f/martin-omalley-debate1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c4184e2f7ec2bf4/69887832cd1bba64386fed8f/martin-omalley-debate1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Martin OMalley","caption":"Martin OMalley","creditText":"Andrew Harnik—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/debates/","name":"Debates"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4172949/martin-omalley-democratic-debate-poll/","name":"Martin O'Malley Faces Test To Qualify For Next Democratic Debate"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The Third Democratic Debate, In Under Two Minutes","description":"Here are the highlights from the final Democratic debate of 2015.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/lTPNqlFm/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-12-20T05:14:20.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/lTPNqlFm.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4172949/martin-omalley-democratic-debate-poll/","duration":"PT1M54S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4172949/martin-omalley-democratic-debate-poll/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```