2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: What would happen if we had a national primary? [View all]Agnosticsherbet
(11,619 posts)The Iowa Caucus requires organization and small town politics. They spend millions there in ads, but more important than TV time is the months of face time the voters get with candidates. If you live in Iowa, and are even slightly interested, you can meet every candidate, face to face. That doesn't happen anywhere else but New Hampshire. In most cases the person who has the best organization will get the most people to the polls. Turnout is always small.
Iowa reveals a candidates ability to organize.
New Hampshire, like Iowa requires on the Ground organization and old fashioned country fair campaigning. Like Iowa, anyone can meet every candidate. In New Hampshire, a candidate shows how well he or she can schmooze and put together a real campaign.
Iowa and New Hampshire have two big weaknesses, as far as I'm concerned. They are disproportionally white and do not reflect the general demographics of the US.
They are small states, Population wise, and tend to be rural.
The reason why they persist is that the parties allow it.