Iowa is first, and some say foremost, when it comes to determining who the next president of the United States will be. How did one of the nation’s smallest states earn this disproportionate power?
The rest of the country is riveted on Iowa and the disproportionate power this state with less than 1% of America’s population plays in choosing the next president. Last week election coverage constituted some 27% of all of the news coverage on 52 national outlets analyzed by Broadcasting and Cable.
CNN’s Larry King was once quoted as saying “I never understood the Iowa caucus” and he is not alone. The process has invariably been described by the media and academics as “quaint” “dominated by special interests ” or “mind-numbingly complex.”
Caucus voters gather behind closed doors at a variety of forums in Iowa’s 99 counties listen to presentations by participants representing the candidates and then vote either by a show of hands by filling in a preprinted ballot or in some cases by writing their choice on a blank sheet of paper. Ties can be broken with a coin toss.
The caucuses are actually only the first stage of a four-step process which includes separate conventions at the county district and state level; the latter is where the final decision on the winner is formalized.
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