Flyover Country

Are you ready?  Once again, Iowa is about to decide the fate of the next presidential election.  Every four years, among the corn fields and the county fair grounds Iowa voters come together to pick the candidate they want to run for president.  Iowa is always first for no reason other than inertia.  That is how we’ve always done it, that is how we’re going to keep doing it.  That is among the worst rationale to continue an activity.

In A More Perfect Constitution, Virginia Law professor Larry Sabato makes an interesting proposal that we divide the country into regions and let a handful of states hold their primaries (or caucuses) on the same day.  Every election cycle, a different group of states gets to go first.

I’ve heard the argument that who goes first doesn’t really matter.  Then why not let someone else?  The problem with “Iowa goes first, New Hampshire goes second” is that it sets the momentum.  When all the polling is done, when all the straw polls are finished, this is the first official vote.  With the momentum goes support – ground, financial, media, etc.  Iowa gets a massive amount of attention from the candidates while states like Missouri and Ohio – whom Larry O’Connor correctly argues are much more representative of the nation as a whole – aren’t even an after thought by the time their primaries come around.

When the last poll comes out before the Iowa caucuses start and bat-crazy Ron Paul is a mere two points behind the much more polished, savvy, and reasonable poll leader Mitt Romney – something is wrong.  I’m not necessarily a fan of Romney.   However, quickly summarizing Ron Paul’s finer foreign policy positions:

• thinks it’s cool for Iran to have the bomb
• we’re basically responsible for bringing 9/11 onto ourselves
• asserts the former administration reacted to 9/11 with glee

If this guy wins Iowa, and that momentum carries him to the Republican nomination for the most powerful office in the world – the way we choose our nominees is completely broken.