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Former Maryland Gov. Martin OMalley will be the choice of New York Democrats for president if Hillary Rodham Clinton is forced out of the race by her State Department e-mail scandal, a prominent Democrat has told The Post.

The well-known New York Democrat also said that Clintons e-mail scandal had knocked her off her pedestal, and compared her attempts to restrict access to her official e-mail correspondence to those taken by disgraced President Richard M. Nixon during the 1970s Watergate scandal.

OMalley, an all-but-announced candidate who was on a campaign swing in Iowa over the weekend, is the one who I think is going to emerge as the front-runner if Hillary is forced out, said the Democrat, a strong Clinton backer whose views carry considerable weight with party members.

OMalleys the one who is best organized. Hes the one who has a team in place. I really think hes the front-runner, the Democrat continued.

OMalley is a guy who has always done the right thing politically. He was a team player who made friends with everybody when he was governor. He would do things for people that I think he thought theyd remember him by, and they did.

[Mass. Sen.] Elizabeth Warren is just too far to the left, sort of in the George McGovern category, and while [Vice President Joe] Bidens own people may be taking him seriously, hes never really been able to catch on, said the Democrat, referring to other potential candidates should Clinton not run.

Clinton, meanwhile, has been knocked off her pedestal by revelations that she used a questionable private e-mail system for official communications during her years as secretary of state, but hasnt yet been sufficiently damaged to be forced out of the race, said the Democrat, who has had frequent contact with the former first lady and New York senator.

Whats so bad about this is that she mixed her personal e-mails with her State Department e-mails and now its to be determined what was personal and what was not, which is a tough position.

Its a position President Nixon got in with his own tapes. He said they were his own tapes, that he recorded them. But, guess what he recorded them in the White House so theyre public.

I dont think what she did is fatal. She can still run if she wants, but it was an unnecessary, self-inflicted wound, the Democrat said.

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Democrats favor Martin OMalley for president if Hillary doesnt run