Well, the long awaited Iowa Caucuses are here today, and 12 hours or so from now we may have a good idea of where all the candidates stack up. I'd planned an extensive AB.com Guide To The Iowa Caucus, but given the beating I'm taking from the Day Job already this year, I have to table this one until New Hampshire.
In the meantime, just in case you still have no freakin' idea what a caucus is, you might wanna peep the instructional video that follows.
Since we're on the topic however, I've been wondering for a long time, why exactly is it that Iowans more or less get to determine the candidates for general election? Sure, every other state (and DC) has primaries that follow, but usually the Hawkeye state, by virtue of simply being first, sets the tone for the rest of the country.
Call me "politically naive", but who died and made these people God(s)?
I've visited Des Moines and Rapid City as part of The Vast Travels of AB's Day Job, and while both are pleasant places filled with very nice people, I don't really understand why this state is so special that they garner so much political attention and are essentially Kingmakers in the whole process.
The Iowa Caucus entry in The World's Most Accurate Encyclopedia says that the Iowa winner only gets the nomination about half the time, and that more than anything, the caucuses are a financial boon to the state. So maybe their importance is overstated as anything more than a media circus. Go figure.
Either way, we'll see what happens when all the delegates are tallied.
Question: What's your predicted Top 3 Finish on both sides?
Here's mine...
Dems - Clinton, Obama, Edwards [yes, really]
Reps - Huckabee, McCain, Romney [somewhat surprising]
Prognosticate you-know-where.
Today's Iowa caucuses look to be close [AP]
