Iowa and New Hampshire

Jan. 13 - DC
Jan. 19 - Iowa
Jan. 27 - New Hampshire
Feb. 3 - "Super Tuesday" (South Carolina, Arizona, more)
Feb. 7 - Michigan, Washington

New Hampshire: back inna day -- way, way back inna day -- they set the primary early to coincide with Town Meeting day (possibly it was the town meeting for just one town, like Concord; towns don't have their town meetings all on the same day anymore). After people started making such a big deal out of it being early, it was put into the state constitution that the NH primary will take place before any other: if some other state up and reschedules theirs, the NH automatically gets rescheduled so it's still first.

Iowa gets around that because theirs is a caucus, not a primary.

You would not believe what a big deal this all is up there.

Has there never been a primary start date war between states then? For example..

"Fuck you, New Hampshire, and your chichi state constitution, Ohio's gonna muthafuckin roll this ball a month before all'z yall snailbait in your hills o' freedom or whatever you wanna call your dirt mounds"

I wouldn't be concerned as much if it weren't for the fact that being first does have an effect of who gets to be the party nominee. (obviously not the deciding factor ultimately, but a much bigger factor than most other states are, thanks to the anxious media coverage)

FIRST CAUCUS/PRIMARY-OF-THE-ELECTION STATE WARS NOW!

anyway, who should IA and NH have chosen, other than Kerry?

Howard The Dean, maybe? Oh that's right.. he broke his voice when he was passionate once. bad candidate.

Granted, IA and NH don't always call the shots.. (Gary Hart, anyone?)

But why shouldn't the first caucus and primary alternate every election year?

mmmm golden elections.

and, y'know, acted like a nut the rest of the time.

But while I don't value any single state's choice over Iowa and New Hampshire each, it seems odd that these two states have been the first for every election. And I do think that, over time, having two relatively unpopulous states always seed the snowball of hype over candidates is a bit of a ridiculous dynamic. It would be ridiculous anyway, but why not make it somewhat less ridiculous? It wouldn't be hard.

and, y'know, acted like a nut the rest of the time.

Nuts or deadwood pretty much describe every presidential candidate ever.

That said, I predicted the top two from the caucuses a couple days before they happened -- probably a result of living around here for so long. Also, Iowa is disgustingly average -- we've got a small portion of really intellectual types, a lot of middle class suburbs with decent schools, and farms that are slowly creeping into factory territory. Being relatively unpopulous is probably a boon -- most of the country is less populous than Iowa!

According to the Hotline, an online political newsletter, U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) has visited the Hawkeye State seven times since 2005. Massachusetts Republican Gov. Mitt Romney? Nine trips. Former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.)? Ten.

Cox has bumped into other Republicans: Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at a fundraising dinner in New Hampshire in March, and New York Gov. George E. Pataki at an Iowa farmhouse in August. He missed Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee by six days on his most recent trip to South Carolina.

Cox also is traveling most of the same roads, and stopping at many of the same towns, as independent Joe "Average Joe" Schriner, an Ohio freelance writer and part-time handyman; Democrat Mike Gravel, a former U.S. senator from Alaska; and Dr. Mark I. Klein, a psychiatrist based in Oakland who describes himself as a GOP "grown-up for the White House."

Even Cox is a little bewildered by all the early action.

"Lock your doors and windows. There's going to be presidential candidates coming out of the woodwork," Cox says to Corrigan, as he hands her some glossy campaign literature.

apparently, both IA and NH took on national importance through single instances of kingmaking - NH with Eisenhower, and IA with Carter