Red States, Blue States, Purple States and...Beige States? [View all]

[MineralMan]

Everyone is on tenterhooks this Friday. I mean Monday is the big day, when Iowans go to their caucus meetings and mill around until they can find a candidate's group to join that represents at least 15% of the caucus-goers that that particular caucus. Some apparently feel that what happens in Iowa is crucial to the selection of the Democratic nominee for President. Well, some people are wrong about that, if that's what they feel.

It's not. Iowa sent its Electoral College members to vote for Donald Trump in 2016. Does that make it a Red State? Well, perhaps reddish. It has elected a few Democrats to other offices, so is it a Blue State? Nope. Some would call it a Purple State, for its mixed results in elections. That's not quite right, either.

Iowa is not a State of Color, really, unless you count Beige as a color. Because Iowa is overwhelmingly Beige. Demographically, it is one of the whitest states in the country. But white isn't quite the right word. Beige comes much closer. Beige is a color, too, but when it is overwhelmingly the most common color, a lot of people don't notice any color at all.

So, Iowa is a Beige state. It's also a state with a very small delegation to the Democratic Nominating Convention. Based on current estimates, it's very likely that Iowa will divide up its small delegation four ways, with nobody having anything like a majority of delegates. Like the state, the delegation will be Beige, as well...almost colorless. That means that Iowa will nave virtually no influence on who the Democratic nominee will be. What happens in the Beige State of Iowa won't really matter, come July.

So, why are we so rapt in our attention to a Beige State? And, by the way, the next state, New Hampshire, couldn't be more Beige, itself, and will have a similar lack of impact on the nomination. So, again, why do we care about Beige states? I don't. I can't imagine them mattering any less in the 2020 primary season.