Why Iowa?

[solarstorm]

I don't think I'm the first person to come up with this question, but I'd like to know:

Why is Iowa traditionally the first caucus state and New Hampshire the first primary state?

[Slander and/or Libel]

Because they have laws that move their particular primaries and caucuses back if anybody tries to sneak ahead of them. That still raises the question of why those laws are in place, and I think it's a matter of it having pretty much always been a certain way, and that way getting cemented through tradition into law.

[NHLiberal]

It makes sense. Iowa and New Hampshire are the two states where retail politics thrive at the highest level (though it's unclear whether that is the cause or an effect of the early primary, probably both, considering it fully applies on the non-presidential level but also boosts political engagement)

[SteveRogers]

Because they called dibs.

The real question is why both parties let them do so with impunity while punishing other states that try to move up their primaries.

[CatoMinor]

Because Iowa and New Hampshire are objectively better than most other states in the Republic.

[badgate]

The real question is why both parties let them do so with impunity while punishing other states that try to move up their primaries.

Exactly; like the fiasco of Michigan's 2008 Democratic primary.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Because they called dibs.

The real question is why both parties let them do so with impunity while punishing other states that try to move up their primaries.

For the record, the GOP did punish NH for holding its 2012 primary in January instead of February (cut its delegates in half); Iowa was unaffected because national delegates are officially awarded at the state convention rather than on caucus night.

[Krago]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/post/why-iowa-gets-to-go-first-and-other-facts-about-tonights-caucus/2011/08/25/gIQAJtygYP_blog.html

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[RR1997]

Watch this video:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_95I_1rZiIs
Skip to 2:28

[justfollowingtheelections]

I don't think I'm the first person to come up with this question, but I'd like to know:

Why is Iowa traditionally the first caucus state and New Hampshire the first primary state?

It's one of the many stupid things about this country's political system

[The_Doctor]

I don't think I'm the first person to come up with this question, but I'd like to know:

Why is Iowa traditionally the first caucus state and New Hampshire the first primary state?

It's one of the many stupid things about this country's political system

This. It's an outdated mechanism from the 1950s or such, and has survived in custom, because nobody has decided to challenge it. Iowa and New Hampshire are increasingly not even representative of the country at large.

It's stupid both parties continue to sanction their first and second place role in the nominating system, long past the date that it would be useful in the slightest. Iowa and New Hampshire should be dumped forthwith and other states allowed to take the lead, or better yet, pick different states in different elections to go first.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I don't think I'm the first person to come up with this question, but I'd like to know:

Why is Iowa traditionally the first caucus state and New Hampshire the first primary state?

It's one of the many stupid things about this country's political system

This. It's an outdated mechanism from the 1950s or such, and has survived in custom, because nobody has decided to challenge it. Iowa and New Hampshire are increasingly not even representative of the country at large.

It's stupid both parties continue to sanction their first and second place role in the nominating system, long past the date that it would be useful in the slightest. Iowa and New Hampshire should be dumped forthwith and other states allowed to take the lead, or better yet, pick different states in different elections to go first.

Actually the Iowa caucuses only date to the beginning of the modern primary system in 1972.  They didn't vote in 1968. The New Hampshire primary has a longer history.

[solarstorm]

I wonder if we'll ever have a president from Iowa or New Hampshire...

[CapoteMonster]

I wonder if we'll ever have a president from Iowa or New Hampshire...

Franklin Pierce was from New Hampshire.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

That still raises the question of why those laws are in place, and I think it's a matter of it having pretty much always been a certain way, and that way getting cemented through tradition into law.

To me, the real question is why those laws were passed in the first place.

[Kushahontas]

Because Iowa and New Hampshire are objectively better than most other states in the Republic.