2016: Martin O’Malley Heads Back to Iowa

As support for Hillary Clinton among Democrats drops due to her private email scandal and family foundation’s hypocritical acceptance of millions in donations from repressive Middle Eastern regimes, former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley will return to Iowa this weekend.

This will reportedly be O’Malley first trip to Iowa–the state in which Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign was derailed when she finished third in the caucuses–since last year’s midterm elections.

According to a Washington Post report, “O’Malley has stops planned in Davenport on Friday night and Tipton on Saturday morning before heading west across the state to Council Bluffs.” He reportedly “has another trip to Iowa planned for early April.” O’Malley is expected to decide within months whether he run for president and potentially challenge Clinton in a primary.

The Post notes that O’Malley’s “trip comes as Democratic activists are starting to consider possible alternatives to Clinton amid controversies over her use of a personal e-mail account while secretary of state and foreign donations to the Clinton Foundation,” and “it offers O’Malley a chance to build on recent statements in South Carolina and New Hampshire on issues of particular interest to the party’s left-leaning activists, including Wall Street reform and immigration.”

Though he is often a footnote in polls and has the lowest name recognition among Democrats (67% in a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll did not even know his name), O’Malley has been diligently courting party activists across the nation. The Post notes that during the last two years, “he has poured hefty resources into Iowa, appearing at 24 campaign events and fundraisers, lending 14 staffers to Democratic candidates and the state party, and donating more than $40,000.”

Clinton’s support among Democrats plummeted 15 percentage points since February in a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll while a Rasmussen poll found that “57% of Democrats won’t commit to someone from the past, with 36% who think their party needs a fresh face and a sizable 21% who are undecided.”