The overhyped, unrepresentative Iowa caucuses
In 2008, about 120,000 participated in the Iowa Republican caucus. That is about 4 percent of the Iowa population and .04 percent of the United States'. Though the numbers are so small, they play a significant role. That is because this is the "first-in-the-nation" voting event and therefore the candidate who wins gets a great deal of media attention and the ones who do poorly usually drops out.
Iowa caucus goers are predominantly white. The state has less than 10% Hispanics and Blacks combined compared to 28% of the nation. It is also mostly rural and has a 6% unemployment rate, 2.6% lower than the rest of the country.
The reason behind the low number of voters is because Iowa has caucuses as opposed to primaries. This means that people gather in an evening event and listen to speeches then cast their votes. (What if they have a job? TOO BAD!!) The caucuses attract only the most committed voters.
Though the winner of the caucuses gets a ton of media attention, it sometimes could be misleading. This does not mean that they will be the presidential nominee for their party. For example, in 2008, Mike Huckabee won the Iowa caucus and McCain finished in fourth. However, McCain was the Republican presidential candidate, as you all may know.
If Ron Paul wins, it will make some GOP political observers reconsider the Iowa's "first-in-the-nation" status. Paul's Libertarian views, like limited engagement stance on foreign policy, make him different compared to modern GOP. The party sees him as a long shot no matter what goes down in the Hawkeye State.
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