Former Maryland Gov. O'Malley calls Baltimore events a 'heartbreaking setback'

On NBC's Meet the Press Sunday, former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) said that the recent events in Baltimore underscore America's need to focus on "economic marginalization," Politico reports.

"We haven't had an agenda for American cities probably since at least Jimmy Carter,” O'Malley said to Meet the Press host Chuck Todd. "We have left cities to fend for themselves."

O'Malley also argued against House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio)'s suggestion that liberals' poverty solutions have failed over the last 50 years. O'Malley pointed to the decrease in violent crime in Baltimore, as well as lower incarceration rates, saying that Freddie Gray's death and the following riots have been "a heartbreaking setback for an otherwise remarkable comeback."

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O'Malley hasn't made any official statements about a Democratic presidential campaign, but he said that if he does announce his candidacy later this month, he "wouldn't think of announcing any place else" than in Baltimore.