“It’s all about the caucus and getting people educated and to understand what it means to caucus. And then following up with the people that have been supportive to get them out there,” he said.

While Trump has campaigned in the major metropolitan areas of the state, the campaign has also targeted Fort Dodge-like events in smaller towns, including Newton (13,000 population), Oskaloosa (10,000) and Winterset (5,000).

“The fact that he’s making the effort to come to Fort Dodge — it makes you feel like you count. We now count a little bit more,” said Tracy Stevens, 52, who filled out a “commit to caucus card” for Trump.

“He actually put an effort to see a small town in Iowa,” said Zach Sukovaty, 20. “Yeah, he may go to the big cities where there’s a lot more people, but if he jumps around to small towns, they’re going to consider him more because he’s for small-town people.”