Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley could see a reduction in staff as he shifts resources from away from Baltimore headquarters with an eye toward the start of primary contests in 2016.

"After the governor's debate strong performance in Iowa on Saturday night, we're shifting more resources and staff to Iowa and the other early states," spokeswoman Haley Morris told CBS News. "We have always run a lean campaign and will continue to do so."

Morris said the campaign is pursuing federal campaign financing and plans to "compete vigorously for the nomination."

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Asked by the Washington Post if the shift might lead to a reduction in overall staff, Morris said, "It could."

The governor himself said it was all part of the process of running for president.

"Hopefully everybody will start moving out to Iowa or New Hampshire or South Carolina or Nevada. I mean that's what happens in a national campaign," he said, although he declined to answer a question about whether his campaign was going into debt.

O'Malley has been running a distant third in the race for the Democratic nomination, behind former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. A CBS News poll of Democrats and independents taken immediately after Saturday night's Democratic debate found that 7 percent believed O'Malley won the debate, and 14 percent thought it was a tie.

O'Malley had just $805,987 in the bank at the end of September, and has raised $3.3 million this year according to his latest filings with the Federal Election Commission.

"I am way ahead, in terms of fundraising, of the candidate in fourth place," O'Malley joked.

CBS News Digital Political Reporter Hannah Fraser-Chanpong contributed to this story.