Who Cares About Iowa?

Jonathan Alter points out in Newsweek that the Iowa caucuses are a terrible test for presidential electability. Iowa's predictive record is dismal. George H.W. Bush won there in 1980, only to be bested by Ronald Reagan in New Hampshire. Bob Dole swept the caucuses in 1988, before George Bush made a comeback the next week. The same year, Richard Gephardt prevailed in Iowa, and immediately went nowhere. Who Cares About Iowa? [MSNBC.com].

So why should anyone care about who gets the "Big Mo" next Monday? Because the real losers are the ones who do so poorly against expectations that they cannot continue raising money. Iowa may not be a king-maker, but it is still the last straw for a lot of candidates, and likely will be this year as well.

 Posted by glenn