DES MOINES — When suburban mom Traci Lust answered her door the other day, there stood Democratic presidential hopeful Martin O’Malley, ready to chat about the upcoming Iowa caucuses.

Just as he was heading off, Lust summoned O’Malley back to meet her teenage daughter, who was decked out in a Taylor Swift t-shirt and had gotten a guitar for Christmas. “Three chords and the world is yours,” said O’Malley, a musician himself who had broken out his guitar to play a Swift song during a recent TV appearance on the The View.

It was one of countless connections the former Maryland governor has made in the nation’s first caucus state, where he’s visited more often than his two Democratic rivals.

But there’s little evidence of a payoff. In a state that has long demanded retail politicking from presidential contenders, this time Iowa isn’t rewarding the candidates from either party who’ve spent the most time on the ground.

Read the article “Candidates Who Spent the Most Time in Iowa, NH Are Not in the Lead” on washingtonpost.com.