Except about 5 seconds after this primary concludes the primaries for real states will be taking place, and no one is really going to care about what happened in 3 states with a combines EV total of 19.
Soulty, you're much more experienced than this. You know it does matter... otherwise we wouldn't be even bothering.
I know that is matters traditionally, yes. But I think that, with the way the primaries are organized this year, and with the fact that so much talking down of the early primaries has happened in the past 6 years, or so. I would say that most Americans are now openly asking "Why in the Hell does Iowa matter so much?" Now, its good for the press of the candidate who wins the first three, but only if that candidate wins in a sweep. Romney is the only one with a chance to do it, and I don't think he will.
True, but if your not even being competitive in the first three thats a big problem. If Giuliani happened to have one tough state, and despite not winning the other two was at least competitive than maybe he can make up for it later. However, it looks like if he finished 3rd in Iowa he will be very lucky. Looks like a 4th place finish there, followed by a 3rd place finish in N.H and a fourth in S.C, being WELL behind in all three states. You might not need to win the first three states, but you do need at least some momentum from them, and it looks like Rudy will have zero.
