Now there are three. Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley (D) announced today that he is a candidate for President in 2016.

Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley (D) [September 2012 file photo].

His announcement speech:

My fellow Americans.

I want to talk with you today about The American Dream we share…

its powerful history,

its current condition, and most importantly,

its urgent need for rebuilding.

Our nation was founded on two self-evident truths…

That All of us are created equal.

And that we are endowed by our Creator with the rights to Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

With these words, the American dream began.

No fine print. No expiration date.

All of us are included.

Women and men.

Black and white people.

Irish Americans, Asian Americans, Latino Americans, Native Americans. Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Americans.

Young and old. Rich and poor. Workers and Business owners. Gay, Lesbian, Transgender and straight Americans.

Every person is important, each of us is needed.

In our idea of country, there is no such thing as a spare American.

There is, however, a growing injustice in our country today.

It is the gap between the strong and just country our children need for us to be,… and the country we are in danger of becoming.

For today in America, seventy percent of us are earning the same or less than they were 12 years ago. This is the first time that has happened this side of World War II.

Today in America, family owned businesses and farms are struggling to compete with ever larger concentrations of corporate power,…

Fifty years ago, the nation’s largest employer was GM. An average GM employee could pay for a year’s tuition at a state university with two weeks’ wages.

Today in America, with dreams of college, a decent paying job, and a secure retirement slipping beyond the reach of so very many,… the American Dream seems to be hanging by a thread.

And yet, for America there is always a yet.

The final thread that holds us just might be the strongest.

It is the thread of the generosity, the compassion, and the love of one another that brings us together as One American People.

For over 200 years we’ve been the architects of our own future. And now we must build anew today.

My father and mother, Tom and Barbara O’Malley, were born to the Great Depression and grew up as part of that great generation that won the Second World War. My dad flew 33 missions over Japan in a B-24 Liberator, and went on to college only because of the GI Bill.

My mom, herself, flew in the Civil Air Patrol at the age of seventeen.

They raised their children – the six of us – to a middle class future secured largely by the sacrifices and better choices of their generation.

But they would never accept the notion that somehow theirs was the “greatest generation.” For they believed and they taught us that every generation of Americans has the ability – and the sacred responsibility – to become great.

And so we must. No matter how long the odds, no matter how large the challenge, and no matter how tough the fight.

This is the urgent work calling us forward today: to rebuild the truth of the American Dream for ALL Americans. And to begin right now!

Last month, television sets around the world were filled with the anger and the rage, and the flames of some of the humblest and hardest hit neighborhoods of Baltimore.

For all of us who have given so much of our energies to making our city a safer, fairer, more just and more prosperous place, it was a heartbreaking night in the life of our City.

But there is something to be learned from that night, and there is something to be offered to our country from those flames.

For what took place here was not only about race…not only about policing in America.

It’s about everything it is supposed to mean to be an American.

The scourge of hopelessness that happened to ignite here that evening, transcends race or geography.

Witness the record numbers of young white kids killing themselves with heroin in suburbs and small towns across America.

The hard truth of our shared reality is this: Unemployment in many American cities and in many small towns across the United States is higher now than it was eight years ago.

Conditions of extreme and growing poverty, create conditions for extreme violence.

We have work to do…

Our economic and political system is upside down and backwards and it is time to turn it around.

What happened to our economy – what happened to the American Dream – did not happen by chance.

Nor was it merely the result of global forces somehow beyond our control.

Powerful, wealthy special interests here at home have used our government to create – in our own country – an economy that is leaving a majority of our people behind.

An economy that has so concentrated wealth in the hands of the very few that it has taken opportunity from the homes of the many.

An economy where a majority of our people are unheard, unseen, un-needed, and left to conclude that their lives and labors are literally worth less today than they were yesterday,… And will be worth less still tomorrow…

We are allowing our land of opportunity to be turned into a land of inequality.

Main Street struggles, while Wall Street soars.

Tell me how it is, that not a single Wall Street CEO was convicted of a crime related to the 2008 economic meltdown. Not. A. Single. One.

Tell me how it is, that you can get pulled over for a broken tail light in our country, but if you wreck the nation’s economy you are untouchable.

This is not how our economy is supposed to work!

This is not how our country is supposed to work!

This is not the American Dream!

And it does not have to be this way!

This generation still has time to become great.

We have saved the world before and we must save our country now – and we will do that by rebuilding the American Dream!

As I look out here this morning over the original “land of the free and the home of the brave,” I see the faces of people who have done so much for so many in our City and our State.

Together, we made our City a safer, healthier and better place for kids.

Together, we made our city Believe again. We invented a new and better way of governing called CitiStat, and we got things done.

Together, we made our State’s public schools the best in the United States. We made college more affordable for more families.

We led our people forward through a devastating national recession. We took greater care to protect our land, our air, and the waters of the Chesapeake Bay.

We passed Marriage Equality and we passed the DREAM Act.

Together, we raised the minimum wage and we sustained the highest median income in America. We achieved top rankings for innovation, entrepreneurship, and minority and women’s business development.

Yes, understanding precedes action.

And it took new leadership. New perspectives. And new approaches.

But we believed in the dream,…together we took action to make it real,… and that is exactly what we must do as a nation today.

Our economy isn’t money, our economy is people-all of our people.

We measure success by the growing prosperity and security of our people-all of our people.

A stronger middle class is not the consequence of economic growth – a stronger middle class is the cause of economic growth.

Together, as one nation we must build an American economy that works again for all of us.

That means good jobs and wage policies that allow hardworking families to actually get ahead. That means a higher minimum wage, overtime pay for overtime work, and respect for the rights of all workers to organize and collectively bargain for better wages.

If we take these actions…the dream will live again.

Climate change is real. We must create an American jobs agenda to build a new renewable energy future.

We must launch a new agenda to rebuild America’s cities as places of Justice and Opportunity for all.

And if we take these actions… the dream will live again.

For the sake of our country’s security, and our country’s well-being, and our country’s economic growth, we must also bring 11 million of our neighbors out of the shadows by passing comprehensive immigration reform.

Because the enduring symbol of our nation is not the barbed wire fence,… it is the Statue of Liberty.

We are a nation of immigrants. We are a compassionate and generous people. And if we act according to our principles-and the better angels of our nature-if we return to our true selves, the dream will live again.

Make no mistake about it – our ability to lead the world and be safe in this world depends on the strength of the American Dream here at home. The challenges we face in the world today are different from the challenges we faced in the 1990’s.

Together, we must construct a New National Security Strategy and build new alliances that are forward-seeing and forward-acting.

The center of this new strategy must be the reduction of threats. Fast-evolving threats – from violent extremism, pandemic, cyber attacks, nuclear proliferation, nation-state failures, to the drought, famine, and floods of climate change.

Together, we must craft a New Foreign Policy of Engagement and Collaboration. We must join with like-minded people around the world – especially with nations here in our own hemisphere – for the cause we share of a rising global middle class.

We must put our national interest first, we must put America first.

But we cannot rebuild the American Dream here at home by catering to the voices of the privileged and the powerful.

Let’s be honest. They were the ones who turned our economy upside-down in the first place. And they are the only ones who are benefiting from it.

We need to prosecute cheats, we need to reinstate Glass-Steagall, and if a bank is too big to fail without wrecking our nation’s economy…then it needs to be broken up before it breaks us…again.

Goldman Sachs is one of the biggest repeat-offending investment banks in America. Recently, the CEO of Goldman Sachs let his employees know that he’d be just fine with either Bush or Clinton.

I bet he would…

Well, I’ve got news for the bullies of Wall Street –

The presidency is not a crown to be passed back and forth by you between two royal families.

It is a sacred trust to be earned from the people of the United States, and exercised on behalf of the people of the United States.

The only way we are going to rebuild the American Dream is if we re-take control of our own American government!

The poet laureate of the American Dream, Bruce Springsteen, once asked:

Is a dream a lie, if it don’t come true?…

Or is it something worse?

Whether the American dream becomes a lie, or becomes an ongoing truth that our children can enjoy,…can build upon,… can live,… is really up to you and me.

It is up to all of us.

It’s not about Wall Street, not about the big five banks, it’s not even about big money trying to buy our elections.

It’s about U.S.

It is about whether, together, We the People still have the will to become great Americans.

I believe we do.

My decision is made.

Now you will all have a vital choice to make next year, for the good of your families, and for the good of the country you love and carry in your hearts.

It is a choice that people will ask you about for years to come.

And so, when a child with a world of learning ahead asks who you voted for, I want you to be able to tell that child, “I voted for you.”

When you see a dad sweating through another long shift in order to give his daughter a better future, I want you to be able to tell him, “I voted for you.”

When you see a mom working long hours at two jobs for the dream of sending her son to college, I want you to be able to tell her, “I voted for you.”

When you see a young father who hungers for a decent job to support his family, I want you to be able to tell him, “I voted for you.”

The story of our country’s best days is not found in a history book, because this generation of Americans is about to write it!

And that is why today,… to you – and to all who can hear my voice – I declare that I am a candidate for President of the United States….and I’m running for YOU.

May God Bless you and may God Bless the United States of America.

Previously:

Harkin Steak Fry 2012 – photos (September 16, 2012)

Harkin Steak Fry 2012 – Road Trip (September 16, 2012)

The 35th Annual Harkin Steak Fry: Getting a Jump on 2016 (September 17, 2012)

Harkin Steak Fry 2012 – press availability with Sen. Tom Harkin (D) and Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) (September 17, 2012)

Harkin Steak Fry 2012 Press Availability Video (September 20, 2012)

Previously:

Harkin Steak Fry 2012 – photos (September 16, 2012)

Harkin Steak Fry 2012 – Road Trip (September 16, 2012)

The 35th Annual Harkin Steak Fry: Getting a Jump on 2016 (September 17, 2012)

After we checked in at the media table at the Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa on Sunday we had a few hours to eat, walk the Warren County Fairgrounds site, visit with people, and take a few photographs before the press availability with the host, Senator Tom Harkin (D), and his guest, the featured speaker, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley.

We gathered with the rest of the media at the appointed hour and were ushered to an area next to one of the outdoor grills.

Senator Tom Harkin (D) at the press availability at the 35th Annual Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa on September 16, 2012.

The transcript:

Senator Tom Harkin (D): …So, welcome again to the thirty-fifth Harkin Steak Fry.  Uh, we’ve had a lot of great speakers in the, in the past and we have another great speaker today, a good friend, uh, the Governor of Maryland, Martin O’Malley who has just done great things in his state. I’m kind of jealous, really, quite frankly. Uh, I chair the Education Committee in the Senate and, uh, you know, we look at all the different states and what’s happening. And it was brought to my attention that Maryland now, uh, exceeds all states in the number of kids who pass through advanced placement tests. To me that says something about Governor O’Malley’s devotion to education in his state. He’s kept tuition down in his state. Uh, and so, the way I see it, he’s put money in to, in to schools, rebuilding schools, school construction, renovation, so, uh, my way of thinking, he’s a, he’s my education governor and has done a lot of great things for education. Since we take pride in our education in Iowa I wanted to have him come out and meet Iowans and, and, uh, talk to our steak fry. So, nice to have Martin O’Malley here from Maryland.

Governor Martin O’Malley (D): Senator, thank you. I’m a huge fan of your senator. Senator Harkin, more than any other senator, I think, in the U.S. Senate has accomplished things that reach all across our country. I mean, I don’t know another senator that’s, uh, touched as many lives in as many real ways as he has with the Americans With Disabilities Act. Uh, every family, every community, we were talking on the way up here, how gratifying it must be to run in to people from towns and places you’d never ever been who thank you for what you’ve done for their family members and, and for themselves. So, uh, look, I’m, I’m honored to be here. Uh, we, uh, I’m also the chair of the Democratic Governors Association and, uh, this is state that we intend to win in two thousand and fourteen. Democratic governors are all about doing the things that work in order to improve, uh, education, improve public safety, create jobs and expand opportunity. We’re not ideologues. We believe that you bring people together to do the things that work. And that’s the sort of leadership that Senator Harkin brought to the U.S. Senate. And, uh, so, uh, I’m, I’m very, very honored to be here. Thank you for the nice things you’ve said about what the people of my state have accomplished. In the toughest of times our state’s been able to move forward, improving education, improving public safety, and, and really giving our kids a better shot at being winners in this new economy. So, I’m honored to be here and it’s been great to meet all your friends and look forward, uh, to working with you to, uh, help the people of Iowa elect a new democratic governor in two thousand fourteen…

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley at the Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa, September 16, 2012.

…Senator Harkin:  And carry it for Barrack Obama this year, too. We’re gonna, we’re, we’re gonna work hard to carry, uh, Iowa for Iowa. He carried it last time. It’s a close race in Iowa. Uh, I, I, rode out on the plane with him a couple of weeks ago and as you know he’s taken a bus tour across Iowa, he’s been to, here a couple three times, he was here with, uh, Joe Biden and Jill, and his wife just a couple weeks ago, well, just the day after the, after the convention. And he’ll be here a lot of times, uh, uh, Vice President Biden’s gonna be here the next couple of days here in Iowa. So I can tell yah, uh, President Obama told me personally that they are investing a lot in this state and they intend to win Iowa. And we intend to carry it for him.

Question: Governor O’Malley, how difficult is it to begin this process of testing the waters in Iowa before the two thousand twelve election has actually even been held?

Governor O’Malley:  Oh, I don’t know, that’s not what I’m doing. I’m here for, uh, I’m here because my friend Senator Harkin asked me come. And Iowa’s a very important state to President Obama and to the reelection of the President which is very important to the people of my state. I mean, in Maryland the things we’ve been able to do, Race to the Top, improving education, improving public safety, those things wouldn’t have been possible without President Obama help, without the help of, and the courageous votes of people like Senator Harkin. And, um, Democratic governors, uh, need our President to be reelected so we can continue to make progress for our people. It’s, it’s a great honor to be invited here and, um, I’m, I’m looking forward to, uh, meeting the senator’s friends, and, most importantly, I’m looking forward to helping the people of Iowa, uh, as we move forward and, and elect more Democratic governors across our country in the years ahead.

Question: Governor, since you’ve brought up twenty-fourteen, uh, in your roll with the Governors Association, are you actively scouting Democratic candidates for governor here? And have you had any conversations specifically with former Governor Culver.

Governor O’Malley: Well. I know Senator, I mean, I know Governor Culver. In fact, Governor Culver and I both traveled to Iraq together. And, uh, you know, he, uh, his soldiers, his men and women in uniform were serving there with men and women from Maryland and we’d swap flags and cell phone cameras whenever we came across  groups of our, our people. So, I like, uh, I like Governor Culver and his wife, Mary. They’re good friends of mine. I mean, ultimately, in every primary the Democratic Governors, kinda, the DGA takes a step back and people in every state have to figure out their own, uh, politics in their primary. And, uh, it’s, having spent some time in Iowa I believe that the people of Iowa, when we give them a choice of moving forward or falling back, always choose to move forward. That’s in your DNA. And I think that’s what you’re going to do again when the opportunity, uh, of the governor’s race  comes up.

Question: Senator Harkin, what’s the number one message you hope to communicate during today’s program?

Senator Harkin:  Well, I think that the number one message is sort of what, uh, Governor O’Malley said. Uh, progress. We gotta keep moving forward. We can’t go back. And if you listen to the Republican party’s platform, read it, and listen to what they’re saying, as I will say today, they want to take us back before Roosevelt. Not Franklin Roosevelt, Teddy Roosevelt. Uh, I mean, undo all of the, kind of the, the social contract that we have built up in America since the nineteen, early nineteen hundreds. Uh, the social contract dealing with education, with health care, with the environment, uh, jobs, retraining. We’ve built a wonderful social contract in this country. And, and don’t take my word for it, but, Bruce Bartlett who was President Reagan’s economic advisor said that this Ryan budget is a monstrosity. A monstrosity in terms of shredding the social contract. And, to me, that’s what’s at stake in this election. And that’s the message I want to get across, that, that, uh, we’ve gotta redouble our efforts and work hard. We’re not gonna have as much money. I saw a figure the other day, I, I can’t vouch for it, but in the super PACs and all these ads you’re seeing that you don’t know where a lot of the money’s coming from, that we’re being outspent over ten to one. So, it’s gonna take, uh, boots on the ground, people working hard to get our vote out.

[….]

Question:  Is this, I mean, everybody says this is gonna be decided on the economy. How much is foreign policy starting to become a key issue in this race?

Senator Harkin:  I, I think what, what Governor Romney did this week in stepping into this fray in Libya, terrible thing that happened to our ambassador and other Americans, I, I think, you know, when it comes to foreign policy you just can’t shoot from the hip. And I think it indicates to me, and this is my own view, Rod, I’m just saying this, that it seemed to me that Romney was more intent on scoring some kind of political points then he was in buttressing America’s foreign policy. And I think that’s why you saw so many Republicans running away from him on it. [….]

Governor O’Malley:  I, I think, uh, I think you’re exactly right. The, it’s, it’s complicated, it’s a complicated world that we live in, but I think that when you look at, uh, when you compare our president, his stature, the, uh, the manner in which he carries himself in the international arena and the, and guides our country, and moves it forward and contrast that with former Governor Romney, who has a difficult time even being a good guest at another nation’s Olympics, I think there’s really no, no contest there. I mean, uh, President Obama is our commander in chief, and, uh, in a complicated time, uh, he’s moving our country forward, leading us forward, and I think that that’s, uh, pretty clear, uh, as people, uh, make their decisions about this race. I mean, there is no progress without jobs. But at the same time, one of the jobs of our commander in chief is to represent us in an increasingly complicated international world.

Question: Governor, you’ve mentioned that you’ve been to Iraq. Are there other ways that you have, uh, moved to inform yourself about foreign policy, um, as a governor?

Governor O’Malley:  Oh, I don’t know, as Democratic Governors we focus on jobs and opportunity and bringing people together to make the tough decisions now. Uh, and, and that’s what we do. Uh, and at the same time we also know that the more we can open up markets around the world to the services and the goods that are produced in our states, whether it’s Maryland or Iowa, but that creates jobs here at home. And, uh, I think the people of Iowa and the people of Maryland actually share a, a pretty, uh, uh, a pretty inspiring opportunity right now, to figure out new ways to feed, fuel and heal this world of ours. And you see innovations happening in our state and, and here in your state, uh, that allow us to do that, from biofuels to wind energy to, uh, the cures that allow us to be a healing force in the world. I, I think it’s an exciting time, uh, to, for us as, uh, to be American.

[….]

The 35th annual Harkin Steak Fry was held at the Warren County Fairgrounds in Indianola, Iowa this afternoon. When there’s a contested Democratic Party presidential primary race in the year before the quadrennial presidential election this event is the place to be for candidates and political activists and followers in Iowa. In other years there are always prominent national Democratic Party speakers, Iowa candidates and office holders, and maybe a future presidential candidate or two testing the Iowa waters.

There’s food with plenty of speeches after the food. The outdoor venue includes a seating area for the speeches along with tents and long tables for dining (and watching the goings on). No, they do not actually fry the steaks, they’re grilled. Today there were approximately one thousand people in attendance at the event.

The weather was comfortably warm with partly cloudy skies. In past years we’ve slogged through the rain and mud or had gloriously beautiful weather. Either way, it’s all a fun part of the event.

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley (D) (far right) and Senator Tom Harkin (D) (right) at the press availability

at the 35th Annual Harkin Steak Fry in Indianola, Iowa on September 16, 2012.

Christie Vilsack (D), former Iowa First Lady and candidate for Congress in Iowa’s 4th Congressional District.

The Harkin Steak Fry is also an opportunity for Iowa Democratic Party activists and supporters to get together and share their politics.

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley (D), the featured speaker at the 2012 Harkin Steak Fry.

A number of Iowa Democratic party candidates and organizations had information tables with campaign and issue swag.

Congressman Bruce Braley (D).

Congressman Dave Loebsack (D).

Congressman Leonard Boswell (D).

Christie Vilsack (D).

Current U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack (D).

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley (D) greets the crowd on the way to the stage.

Senator Tom Harkin (D).

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley (D).