What's so special about Iowa? (Nevada, Colo: house, college, entertainment)

[txcollegeboy]

That you get to choose the President? I live in a state that doesn't count one iota for the Presidential nomination, and yet some quaint state of Iowa gets to decide the Presidency.

What's so special about you guys?

[Not Iowa]

Iowa doesn't pick the President. Iowa holds the first national Caucuses, this year on January 3rd. The caucusus are a selection of candidacy. New Hampshire holds the first national primary, this year on January 10th.

Next November, the entire country will select the President. This happens on Election Day - November 4, 2008.

[metro223]

um were just that good

[txcollegeboy]

Originally Posted by Not Iowa

Iowa doesn't pick the President. Iowa holds the first national Caucuses, this year on January 3rd. The caucusus are a selection of candidacy. New Hampshire holds the first national primary, this year on January 10th.

Next November, the entire country will select the President. This happens on Election Day - November 4, 2008.

You guys get the first pick, why? Why is Iowa so deserving? Why do you get to decide the nominee, while Texas and Arizona have no say at all?

[Chicago60614]

it's just the way it's done. it's a pretty 50/50 mix state though, so that makes it a little more interesting.

[El Rhino]

Originally Posted by txcollegeboy

Why do you get to decide the nominee, while Texas and Arizona have no say at all?

Because we may end up with Vicente Fox or someone like that as our president if we did.

[WoodwardGirl]

Originally Posted by El Rhino

Because we may end up with Vicente Fox or someone like that as our president if we did.

Direct Hit!

[Not Iowa]

Originally Posted by txcollegeboy

You guys get the first pick, why? Why is Iowa so deserving? Why do you get to decide the nominee, while Texas and Arizona have no say at all?

That is actually duked out at the state level. Just a bit back, NH & IA went at it over who would go first. NH moved their primary up to the 8th (I was wrong on the 10th on my previous post) and IA moved from the 12th to the 3rd. I did a little research on TX, a primary state, and they hold their primary on March 4, in the last stretch of primaries, caucuses, & conventions.

IA isn't the only early bird though. We're just first. Other early primaries & caucuses are:
1/3 Iowa caucus
1/5 Wyoming convention
1/8 New Hampshire primary
1/15 Michigan primary
1/19 Nevada caucus & South Carolina primary
1/29 Florida primary
2/2 Maine caucus

So go to your primary on Mar 4. If you're really interested in why IA is first, go to Iowa caucus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Cheers!

[WoodwardGirl]

Originally Posted by txcollegeboy

You guys get the first pick, why? Why is Iowa so deserving? Why do you get to decide the nominee, while Texas and Arizona have no say at all?

Pretty much because we called dibs.

And, actually, while we WISH we decided the nominees and some of us BELIEVE that we do, all we actually do is hold the first caucus. If the rest of the nation -- and the candidates -- wants to let that one little old caucus decide what they are all going to do, well, that isn't exactly OUR problem, now, is it?

In our favor, we are generally well-educated, open-minded and, for the most part, take this very seriously. While the rest of the nation has been going to the beach and climbing mountains and hanging out at trendy nightspots and hot new restaurants (all the stuff people from other places complain that Iowa doesn't have) for 'lo these many months, we've been going to campaign presentations. Lots of them. Sometimes several a week. It's not easy for us -- we generally don't do traffic or crowds and these events are chock full o' both. And we've been reading about the candidates and watching them on TV and listening to them on the radio and reading their books. It takes dedication and a sense of responsibility. That's kind of who Iowa is.

While it is true that we have next to no ethnic or racial diversity, we do tend to care a lot about our neighbors and we don't demand that it be all about us. That may sound contradictory with all the media that Iowa gets for "being first," and, granted, we do love the economic boost we get with having the media and candidates come. But when we ask "what have you done for me lately?" we're including the rest of the nation and the world in our consideration, and that's not a viewpoint you're going to find everywhere. El Rhino's comment was made in jest, but the truth is that large partisan populations in some states are in it for themselves, while we tend to remember that we're all in this together.

Why do we want to be first? Mostly, because we do want that chance to meet the candidates in person, to get up close and personal and get a feel for who they really are. And we do what we do on behalf of the rest of the nation, not in spite of them. Really, y'all could do a lot worse.

[El Rhino]

The Iowa Caucauses are pretty cool. There's a lot of good entertainment to be had for free.

Last time around I did the following:


Saw Chuck Berry perform for a benefit for Dick Gephardt. People usually pay good money to see Mr. Berry.

Yelled "Stifle it, Meathead" at Rob Reiner, who came to support Howard Dean. I got some pretty dirty looks at this one, as I think they could tell I wasn't a Howard Dean supporter.

Saw Joan Jett perform in a small coffee house (Java Joe's) to support Howard Dean.


I'm looking forward to seeing some interesting things this time around.