As Iowa Goes, So Goes No One
March 4, 2008 at 10:50 pm
John McCain wins the Republican nomination. Mike Huckabee doesn’t.
And the big loser?
Iowa.
Huckabee joins the sad long list of Republican candidates who win Iowa in contested elections — but don’t win the White House (except George W. Bush in 2000).
That list:
2008 — Mike Huckabee
1996 — Bob Dole
1988 — Bob Dole
1980 — George H.W. Bush
1976 — Gerald Ford
John McCain may be on to something by doing so lousy in the Hawkeye State.
And it’s equally abysmal on the Democratic side. If he wins the presidency in November, Barack Obama would become the first Democrat ever to win the Iowa caucuses and the White House in the same year (”uncommitted” beat Jimmy Carter in 1976).
Kate said,
March 5, 2008 @ 2:13 am
Go Iowa. They got ‘76 right!
Shawn Levasseur said,
March 5, 2008 @ 2:52 am
Funny, I thought the point wasn’t that Iowa (and New Hampshire) were going to decide the nomination, just be the first to cast their votes. The point isn’t to make the rest of the nation irrelevant. If there is any service being done for the rest of the country, is to weed out some of the wannabes early (Exhibit A: Howard Dean).
The real losers are Florida and Michigan. They thought they could be more influential by scheduling their primaries early. With the race being this close for the Democrats, the joke’s on them. With the attention showered upon Texas and Ohio this past week, Florida and Michigan must be green with envy.
Being first isn’t everything.
Can we now dial back the election season to a more sane calendar now?
anon said,
March 5, 2008 @ 7:53 am
What Shawn said.
C Smith said,
March 5, 2008 @ 8:22 am
Not only weed out the wannabees, but give more exposure of the candidates on a small scale.
Calling Iowa a pre-season match is overly harsh, but it is a relatively less stressful start to a gruelling season.
shane said,
March 5, 2008 @ 1:43 pm
I have an idea. Every 4 years, take the list of states and randomize it. First State out gets to be the first primary. Then the next 2 states the next week. Then 2 more states the following week. Then we have 4 state primaries each week for the next 5 weeks. Over and done in 2 months.
ben said,
March 5, 2008 @ 8:21 pm
Why don’t we just do all the primaries on the same day? A month later, do the general election.