This is probably a really dumb question, but how come the first primary (I favor replacing caucus--cauci?--with primaries) isn't in, say, Ohio? Ohio is a diverse state with cities, suburbs, and rural areas. Is Iowa? Is New Hampshire?
caucuses. It comes to English from the Algonquins, not from the Romans.
I think NH and IA are both going to be looked at hard in the future. Trump won big there with a few fly-by events and some big stadium speeches. The whole point of letting them go first is because you have to get out and press the flesh and kiss the babies to win. Retail politicking they call it, and it was thought that in New Hampshire and Iowa you have to do that to win, and those states are just small enough that you could actually go door-to-door and meet all the residents in one season. That may have been true at one time, but clearly it is not true any more. A candidate has shown that he can win New Hampshire the same way he wins any other state, so it's not special. Neither is Iowa.
