MUSCATINE — To a casual observer it would have seemed as if a tableful of people in the Muscatine Family Restaurant had gotten together to discuss the issues of the day. In fact, that’s what it was, except one of the people at the table is running for president.

On Thursday afternoon John Delaney, candidate for the Democratic nomination for president, made his third stop in Muscatine. With a sparce turnout of only a few friends he had made from his other visits to Muscatine he gave no speech. Instead the group sat down and discussed a variety of topics and issues of the day. Muscatine residents Kelcey Brackett and Henry Marquard sat with Delaney, ordered food, and told stories about their experiences on a variety of campaign trails.

“I think the thing that has become a sharp focus of my campaign is what is happening to small towns in rural America,” Delaney said of the last several months he has spent in Iowa leading up to the Iowa caucus which will be held Monday. “I was aware of this because I represented western Maryland, which is a rural part of Maryland. The sheer number of small towns in Iowa that are shrinking and aging. In many ways it is the ways this state has settled. I think what is happening to small-town America is a crisis at this point. That is the message I am delivering to people. It is something I have become very passionate about and I think I have the best plan to turn it around.”