Why Iowa?

Who cares about Iowa? Apparently, the media does. 24 hour cable news and the national print media can't get enough of the Hawkeye State. They will devote over half of their 2008 presidential election coverage to the two tiny states of Iowa and New Hampshire.

Three million people, 97% Caucasian, call Iowa home. This is the state where arch-conservatives like John Wayne and Herbert Hoover were born. It has propelled Republicans like Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush into the presidency.

Iowa's record for picking Democrats is dismal to say the least. The people of Iowa have selected president's Edmund Muskie, Walter Mondale, Richard Gephardt, Tom Harkin, Al Gore, John Kerry, and even a fellow called uncommitted. The only time they got it right was in 1996 when they selected Bill Clinton for a second term (he was unopposed).

So why do Democrats need Iowa then? They don't, but that won't stop the national media from stuffing Iowa down their throats. Democrats can be sure of one thing; whichever Democrat wins Iowa, will, almost certainly, not become the next President of the United States.

Yesterday, I watched Oprah Winfrey address a Des Moines rally for Barack Obama. A sea of white faces, all well-meaning I'm sure, filled the Iowa Events Center, and did their best to ignore the issue of race. I'm sure they will try to do the right thing, but who gave them so much power to decide the fate of the nation?

The media repetitiously says that Iowa is important and the candidates, like yellow rows of corn, fall right into line. The message is repeatedly drummed into the nation's consciousness over and over again, the simple idea that Iowa matters. It doesn't.

I live in Orange County, California, home to more Americans than all of Iowa's 99 counties. The candidates rarely address crowds here, they don't come to my door, there are no campaign workers asking for my support, I don't get phone calls, handbills, or political ads in the mail. The election will probably be settled by the time I cast my vote, thanks to the good folks in Iowa. This is somebody else's election, not mine.