Pull the plug on Iowa and New Hampshire

By Weekly Archive On Dec 26, 2007

It
gets earlier and earlier, every election cycle. This time around,
Iowa voters will cast the first ballots in the presidential contest
of 2008, on Jan. 3, before many Americans have even recovered from
their New Year’s hangovers.

With
the caucuses coming so soon after the holidays, Iowa’s hogging the
media spotlight. Republican and Democratic candidates are
crisscrossing the state, squeezing in four or five events a day.
Surrogates, from Hollywood stars to a former president, show up where
candidates cannot. And pollsters track the daily farts and burps of a
fickle electorate: one day, it’s Clinton on top; the next, it’s
Obama; but John Edwards could embarrass them both. And don’t forget
Joe Biden and Chris Dodd.

The
one question nobody’s asking is the one question we should all be
asking: Why? Why is Iowa still No. 1? And why do we still attach so
much importance to a landlocked state that has so few voters, doesn’t
represent America, and is home to more pigs than people?

It
was supposed to be different in 2008. After decades of complaints
about the exaggerated importance of Iowa and New Hampshire, both
major parties promised a more representative primary schedule.
Democrats added Nevada and South Carolina. Republicans moved up South
Carolina and Florida. But, in the end, nothing has changed. It still
comes down to Iowa and New Hampshire.

This
is nuts! Take Iowa. Look at the number of voters. In 2004, only
122,000 Iowans turned out to participate in the Democratic caucuses.
Yet they, in effect, dictated the nominee of the Democratic Party —
forcing 123,535,883 Americans who voted in the general election to
choose between George W. Bush and John Kerry. Not that Kerry wasn’t
the best choice, but why should tiny Iowa make that decision? It’s a
classic case of the tail wagging the dog!

And
look at the portrait of voters. A group of Iowa voters may resemble a
Norman Rockwell painting, but they don’t reflect the general
population of the United States. Iowans are 91.5 percent white,
compared with 66.9 percent of Americans. A swelling Hispanic
community today makes up 14.4 percent of the national population, but
only 3.7 percent of Iowa’s. And Barack Obama must sometimes feel
lonely in a state that is only 2.3 percent African-American, compared
with 12.8 percent nationwide.

Finally,
look at the issues. It doesn’t take you long, once arriving in Iowa,
to realize you’ve entered another world. Turn on the car radio and
you’ll soon be deluged with the latest market prices for soybeans and
sow bellies. There’s only one reason we’re still saddled with high
farm subsidies. It’s the same reason behind strong support for
corn-based ethanol, even though it’ll drive up the price of food and
require huge government subsidies: because candidates are afraid of
Iowa farmers. Thanks to the caucuses, Iowa has a stranglehold on our
food, farm and energy policies.

Now
add the quirky way votes are counted. Candidates who don’t get at
least 15 percent of the vote get no delegates at all. Yet, after the
first round of voting, their supporters, now considered "non-viable
preference groups," can switch their allegiance to a second
choice — thereby gaining the right to vote twice, a privilege
enjoyed by residents of no other state.

The
fact that Iowa and New Hampshire still come first and have so much
clout makes a mockery of the entire presidential primary process.
There must be a better way — and there is! The best idea, I believe,
is similar to one that’s been kicked around since former Sen. Alan
Dixon (D-Ill.) first proposed it back in 1991: a series of regional
primaries. The country would be divided into four regions. Each
region, in turn, would hold a primary on the first Tuesday of March,
April, May, and June. The order would be rotated so that the region
that goes first in 2008, for example, would go last in 2012.

A
system of regional primaries would be easy to set up — and it’s the
only way to give all Americans a real say in the primaries. There’s
just one obstacle: the inexplicable fear of party leaders and
political candidates of offending the voters of Iowa and New
Hampshire.

Why?
Together, they make up less than 2 percent of the population. What
are they going to do? Secede? In primaries, it’s time to give all
Americans a voice, and not just Iowa and New Hampshire.

Bill
Press is host of a nationally syndicated radio show and author of a
new book, "How
the Republicans Stole Religion."
You can hear "The Bill Press Show" at billpressshow.com.
His email address is: bill@billpress.com. His Web site is:
www.billpress.com.