Why Iowa?: How Caucuses and Sequential Elections Improve the Presidential Nominating Process

by David P. Redlawsk, Todd Donovan, Caroline J. Tolbert

If Barack Obama had not won in Iowa, most commentators believe that he would not have been able to go on to capture the Democratic nomination for president. Why Iowa? offers the definitive account of those early weeks of the campaign season: from how the Iowa caucuses work and what motivates the candidates’ campaigns, to participation and turnout, as well as the lingering effects that the campaigning had on Iowa voters. Demonstrating how “what happens in Iowa” truly reverberates throughout the country, five-time Iowa precinct caucus chair David P. Redlawsk and his coauthors take us on an inside tour of one of the most media-saturated and speculated-about campaign events in American politics.

Considering whether a sequential primary system, in which early, smaller states such as Iowa and New Hampshire have such a tremendous impact is fair or beneficial to the country as a whole, the authors here demonstrate that not only is the impact warranted, but it also reveals a great deal about informational elements of the campaigns. Contrary to conventional wisdom, this sequential system does confer huge benefits on the nominating process while Iowa’s particularly well-designed caucus system—extensively explored here for the first time—brings candidates’ arguments, strengths, and weaknesses into the open and under the media’s lens.

Genres: School

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[John]

Extraordinarily well researched by political science professors at three universities, not a light read but vitally important in the debate about the value of the grassroots institution, what some see as the full flowering of what the founders of the country had in mind.

Makes a suggestion no on has picked up on, not mentioned in any of the reviews or interviews about the book that I have seen, it deserves to be widely discussed.

The suggestion is to have a caucus period at the beginning of the election season and then a national primary with the rest of the states.

Not an easy read because of it being crammed with important facts, but that is part of the appeal. This is solid research well presented, something that has never been produced by those who would kill the caucus. This follows on the heals of another that the authors credit, Grassroots Rules, Standford University Press which is equally enthusiastic about the caucus assembly system after taking a close look.

[Laura]

It has it's place but politics is probably the least favorite thing I could ever read about. The writing was actually fine :) thanks goodness!