This election marks the beginning of the end for Iowa and New Hampshire

[marmar]

This election marks the beginning of the end for Iowa and New Hampshire
We used to need the two first-in-the-nation contests to make sense of the election. But now voters are taking control of the process – and about time, too

Jose Antonio Vargas
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 11 January 2012


Two young women – one born and raised in Iowa, the other in New Hampshire, both children of the internet era – arrive at the same conclusion: the first-in-the-nation contests that they've grown up with have increasingly lost their relevance. A new nominating process is sorely needed.

"Don't get me wrong, I love the caucuses. It's the only thing anyone knows about Iowa," Rachel Potter, a student at Iowa State University, told me at a meet-and-greet for Rick Perry in Ames last month. "But Iowa clearly doesn't represent the whole country."

Jordan Cichon, a student at University of New Hampshire whom I met in Corcord, two days before Mitt Romney's win in that state, added: "Nothing about the primary process make sense. It's a source of pride that we get to vote first, but why us? Does New Hampshire really matter that much?"

It doesn't, and it shouldn't. ..................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/11/new-hampshire-iowa-relevance

[DonCoquixote]

1. Every state should have it's say

And truth be told, statewide primaries and their sequence is outdated...Let everyone go on the same day, with federal-controlled PAPER ballots. Have it about a month before the conventions, so that candidates have to think how to plan their itinerary, instead of going "let's pander to Iowa here, and New hampshire there."

As a Florida resident, I do feel screwed by a system that tries to get the whole debate sewed up before we get a shot, and then , every year, wails about how those crazy people in Florida ruin the election.

[limpyhobbler]

2. If Iowa and NH go first, whatever, it's the media that acts like it so important.

And there is something nice about the candidates having to face regular people in town halls, coffee shops, steakfry, house parties etc. I don't know if that could ever happen the same way in a bigger state like Florida or Ohio. It gives an opportunity for a less funded candidate to make a mark. It can help keep an incumbent president honest (think GHWB vs. Pat Buchanan. I'll miss Iowa and NH.