I think it gives the rest of us a peek at a lot of candidates. And the winner of the Iowa cuacuses only earns a small number of electoral votes in the nomination process. It's early enough such that if a kook wins the state, they don't have a huge pot of votes to carry toward the convention. Iowa and New Hampshire together don't add up to a whole lot in the entire process. So let those small states winnow out some of the candidates (like Pawlenty, bye bye) without them collecting enough clout to be a big issue come convention time. Think of it as a low cost test drive.softwarejanitor wrote:Anyway, by once again picking candidates who probably won't make it through to the convention as contenders, Iowa continues to show why they are NOT a good reflection of general America and why they don't deserve the "first in the nation" position they've anointed themselves with.
Bachman and Paul have the personnna to play well in Iowa. Not so sure that will work in other states. South Carolina is a biggie that tends to be the end of the lower tier candidates.