Asked how that process has been going so far, O’Malley said, “It’s going well.”

He described a handful of recent speeches as the conduit through which he has been able to present his national policy beliefs to a wider audience. “[I’ve] given a number of talks: the commencement at St. Mary’s College, the climate change talk, the Center for American Progress,” he said.

“So by the end of this year, I think we’re on course to have a body of work that lays the framework of a candidacy for 2016,” said O’Malley, who is here in Wisconsin this weekend for the National Governors Association summer meeting.

The governor also highlighted his political action committee — named, “O’ Say Can You See PAC” — that this week reported raising more than $500,000 in the first six months of the year.