How Much Does Iowa Really Mean Anyway?

Not much in the grand scheme of things anyway. In 2004 John Kerry didn’t do well in Iowa or New Hampshire. In 2000, New Hampshire almost broke George W. Bush’s back. But yet political junkies like me always give these two races so much weight. But why?

To be honest I don’t really know.

In Iowa, anyone can vote for anyone. All you have to do is attend a Caucus meeting and you get a vote. I’m not even sure if there is any requirement to be a resident. A couple of weeks ago there was a report that the Dems were flooding Iowa with staffers. The speculation was that they intended on attending these caucuses and voting. How credible that is I’m not sure but there was the report.

New Hampshire is such a small state in such a liberal part of the nation. Those of us in the heartland give about as much weight to the opinions of New Englanders as we do to the opinion of Michael Moore, NONE.

So how much does Iowa really mean? The truth is not much.

Officially the campaigns will tell you that Iowa and New Hampshire build momentum for Super Tuesday which is 32 days after Iowa. But I don’t believe that either.

Personally I’m in favor of nixing this staggered primary period altogether. It is out dated in the information age. Up until the proliferation of the internet and the information age, it was necessary for candidates to get out there and stump in the field. But now I’m not sure that is really necessary.

Today we have much more access to the information we need in order to make up our minds. But there are still those in these early states who hold on to the antiquated notion that they cannot get to know a candidate unless they get face time. That’s nonsense. The truth is that the people in places like New Hampshire and Iowa get more access than anyone else and that is why the nation ignorantly holds on to this system.

What we need is to have one primary day in Presidential election years. Some states don’t vote until a month or even two after Super Tuesday. By then, most of the candidates that appears on their ballots will have dropped out and endorsed other candidates. But the voter don’t always cast their vote for the endorse candidate, or for that matter, anyone else but the candidate who dropped out. This leads to votes being cast for non-candidates and muddying of the waters.

If we had one primary day when everyone in the nation votes for the whole field of candidates, that in my opinion would be a better solution than we have now.

As someone who lives in a state which doesn’t vote until 29 days AFTER Super Tuesday, it is possible that the candidate that I support now could be out of the race by then. I don’t think Fred will drop because I expect Fred to be the nominee. But it is possible for my choice in any given January to be eliminated before I have a chance to raise my voice through my vote. And that my friends isn’t fair.

Update… See a new post “Correcting a Mistake AND a Reminder of the Literal Insignificance of Iowa’s Caucuses”

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