MANCHESTER, N.H. — His competitors skipped the spin room, but former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley couldn’t resist the opportunity to make not one, but two stops in with reporters following the Democratic debate at Saint Anselm College to further make his case for the presidency.

“It was a terrific debate,” an enthusiastic O’Malley said during a media session. “You probably won’t find a better advertisement for why it is the Democratic Party should be more democratic, and have more debates rather than less, than you heard tonight.”

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders gave a brief interview to local ABC affiliate WMUR before being escorted out by police. Former Secretary of State, New York senator and first lady Hillary Clinton did not participate in interviews following the debate.

O’Malley, who is polling far behind Clinton and Sanders nationally, praised the debate as “a healthy exchange of differences and ideas.”

“In a way, even though this is the holiday season, and even though I would prefer more debates, and I would prefer to have them on weekdays, I feel like tonight’s debate was really the first debate as we enter into the decision-making window, here in New Hampshire and also in Iowa,” he said. O’Malley also expressed optimism that he could emerge as “the candidate people didn’t see coming.”

“I was able to lay out what I believe is a better foreign policy and a better national security strategy for our country — one that anticipates threats, one that breaks itself free from the old thinking of the Cold War era, and that embraces the new realities here,” O’Malley said. “We need to develop regional alliances. We need to be collaborative in our approaches. We need better human intelligence on the ground. And these are all the things that I have learned how to do as a mayor and as a governor.”

O’Malley said he believed he won the debate.

“I’ve always been about getting things done, and my politics are the politics of action,” he said. “I also offer a new generational perspective on this world of ours and our country. What the Republicans are speaking to are the fears and angers of the past, and what they’re not offering is a better way forward for us as a country.”

O’Malley said he would not stand for the “racist or fascist appeals” of businessman and Republican candidate Donald Trump.

“We have to be prepared as a party to win this election in November, to speak to where our country is going, not to where we’ve been,” he said. “I offer the ability to bring us together as a nation, and I believe that is the vision I articulated tonight, and that’s why we’re going to be successful and surprise a lot of people.”

Former Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank was in the spin room, and while he said he, like Sanders, wants to raise taxes on Wall Street, he was most impressed with Clinton’s performance.

“I think she continues to demonstrate that she’s our best hope of putting the basic Democratic movement forward in a thoughtful way,” Frank said. “I think Sanders was better than he’s been before. I was disappointed in O’Malley. He seemed to be just picking fights. I didn’t think he was very constructive.”

Follow Cassidy Swanson on Twitter and Tout @CassidyMSwanson.