Iowa Republicans want to get rid of Obama so badly they’re willing to disrupt 40-plus years of history and tradition to do it. The Iowa party just announced they are moving their Presidential Caucus up to January 3rd, placing them way ahead of every other primary contest – and likely forcing the New Hampshire GOP, which is salty about it, into moving their primary into December.
What is the practical impact of all of these moves and counter moves? If Iowa stays first in January then candidates like Perry and Bachmann will be able to gauge their chances in the race that much sooner. A poor showing in Iowa for either of them pretty much means they’re out of the game (although historically only two times from 1987 to 2007 did the winner of the Iowa straw poll fail to win the Iowa caucus – Good luck, Michelle!)
More importantly: if this great leap forward means that New Hampshire moves their primary up into December then the coronation of Mitt Romney begins that much sooner because he has an almost insurmountable lead in that state.
All of this simply reinforces my belief that the entire process needs to be scrapped into something that is more competitive for all candidates and less driven by tradition. How about establishing the primary order by a lottery a year before the election? That way a national nomination contest isn’t beholden to two incredibly non-representative states. Unless, of course, the GOP prefers it that way.
This article originally appeared at Politic365.com.
