Polling at less than 1% but still driving through a blizzard! Asa Hutchinson keeps campaigning in Iowa, phones supporters one-by-one when he cancels an event and says Trump will be an ‘albatross’ for the Republicans

Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson drove through Iowa in a snowstorm on Friday seeking support for his campaign in the final days before the caucuses, but had to improvise and call supporters one by one.

Hutchinson has not been on fire in the polls, despite a deep resume as a former member of the House of Representatives, governor and official in the Bush administration. When a bad storm system brought snow and howling winds, he cut what he could from his schedule and threw the rest away.

“Oh yeah, we have a four-wheeler, that’s good,” he told DailyMail.com from the road as he walked from Cedar Rapids to Des Moines. “They’re slippery, but we’re doing it,” he said of the state highways.

On Friday, he made a TV broadcast and then planned an event with supporters.

‘But the restaurant where we had it closed tonight. So we had to let that go. So I’ve been on my way… calling caucusgoers,” he said. “So it’s been very helpful. And so the people who couldn’t go to the event in Iowa City, I ended up calling a lot of them. And call other supporters across the state and identify caucus participants.”

‘There is nothing as nice as being present in person, answering more questions and having more interaction. “But you deal with the weather as it comes and you adapt,” he said.”

Hutchinson is below 1 percent in the RealClearPolitics average, despite having a background that could appeal to Iowans. He grew up on a farm and served as governor of another rural state.

He recently completed the recommendation from the Storm Lake Times newspaper. It said he “knows cotton from corn” and checks all the Republican Party boxes except one: “loyalty to a traitorous Trump.”

“I am the only candidate campaigning in Iowa who has not promised a pardon to Donald Trump. That’s amazing,” said Hutchinson, who once served as House impeachment manager during Bill Clinton’s impeachment.

“For someone to promise a pardon during a political campaign to get votes, that’s wrong,” he said.

He showed a photo of the road conditions he was driving across the state

Former President Donald Trump plans to return to Iowa on Saturday after cleaning up a rally on Saturday evening. Hutchinson emphasizes his role as the only rival who has not committed to pardoning Trump

Ron DeSantis held one campaign event and then improvised another, but canceled later scheduled appearances

Hutchinson did not meet the requirements to get on the debate stage Wednesday, nor did he qualify for an upcoming debate in New Hampshire

“I don’t make these kinds of promises during the campaign,” he said.

“If Trump is our nominee, we will be saddled with an albatross around our necks,” he predicted, as pre-caucus polls showed Trump would top 50 percent.

He blasted Trump for calling the Jan. 6 defendants “patriots” and condemned House leaders who, like Trump, called them “hostages.”

“This kind of misleading rhetoric will be the death knell for the Republican Party if we don’t deviate from it,” he said.

Asked about Chris Christie, who dramatically dropped out of the race on Wednesday, Hutchinson said of Christie: “He clearly didn’t see a way to win. I’m sure he got some pressure from his donors.’ He said the two men have not spoken since Christie dropped his campaign in New Hampshire.

“I’m in a different position,” he said. ‘I have decided to campaign in both places. And you know, I’ve been as clear as he or anyone about the risk of Donald Trump.” He also said his own campaign is about more than going after Trump.

Christie, who was compared to Don Quixote in a recent New York Times story, has already bought a ticket to New Hampshire and says he will campaign there. He is running his campaign on a relatively small budget, raising just over $1 million through September and spending most of it.

Hutchinson posted a video of himself in his SUV heading to the Cedar rapids, accompanied by a single campaign worker named Ed, where he gave supporters a glimpse of the snow piling up outside. “You will have a great day and be safe,” he said in a post that received 123 likes and 15 retweets seven hours after he published it.

He refused to blame Trump for staying in West Palm Beach while Iowa battled the storm. (Trump later suspended Saturday events and announced “telerallies” with a plan to return to the state Saturday evening).

‘I let him decide for himself what his campaign is. I’m sure he has some court dates to prepare for,” Hutchinson joked.