Sole Iowan at O'Malley Event Impressed, Doesn't Commit

TAMA, IA — The lone Iowan who braved a snowstorm to meet Martin O’Malley at a campaign stop Monday said he liked the former Maryland governor’s positions, but still isn’t sure who he’ll support on caucus night.

GOP presidential candidates New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio were forced to call off their Iowa appearances when snow and ice blanketed the state, closing airports and interstates. Time is crucial for the presidential candidates in both parties to connect with Iowans, who will caucus on Feb. 1.

O’Malley chatted for an hour with a potential voter identified by political reporters only as Kenneth. The Democratic contender touted his record in Maryland taking in young refugees from Central America, who were helped by faith communities and foster families.

According to a blog post by reporter Sarah Beckman, Kenneth shared his concerns about the incarceration rate. That let O’Malley talk about his experience with restorative justice, connecting prisoners with family and ministers before their release.

“As governor, I got down our incarceration rate to 20 year lows, and I reduced our recidivism rate by 15 percent,” O’Malley told the Iowan. “We did a lot of good stuff with re-entry, with restorative justice, having our inmates work on different stuff that connected them to the real world.”

While Iowans did turn out for other rallies to hear what O’Malley had to say, the Tama stop was the last planned for the day. The governor told MSNBC they thought about canceling, but since they were on the road they “plowed through,” Politico reports.

Kenneth told O’Malley he sees problems with both frontrunner Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders.

“On paper, if I were to look at just the resumes, you would have the strongest resume in my mind,” the likely caucus-goer told O’Malley.