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Steffen W. Schmidt

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    Big Picture

    Why the race for the presidency begins with the Iowa caucus

    Steffen W. Schmidt
    January 08, 2020
    Why the race for the presidency begins with the Iowa caucus

    "The Iowa caucuses have become a well-watched political tradition because the media devotes so much attention to the candidates' activities in Iowa and then how they perform on caucus night," writes Steffen W. Schmidt.

    Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

    Schmidt is a professor of political science at Iowa State University.

    The first and most visible test of candidate support in the 2020 presidential election is the Iowa presidential caucus, which takes place on Feb. 3.

    While Iowa does not control who becomes the candidate of each party, Iowans' choices almost always end up matching the rest of the nation.

    One of the architects of the modern Iowa caucuses, which began in 1972, wrote that the significance of the caucus was unanticipated.

    "Never in our dreams did we realize we would be 'first in the nation,' nor did we ever expect anyone outside Iowa would pay much attention," retired Iowa State University engineering professor Richard Seagrave wrote.

    Seagrave said that it wasn't political calculation that led to the choice to run the caucus early in the election year. It was the "immense amount of paperwork" needed to document caucus proceedings with only a slow mimeograph machine that led to the choice of such an early caucus date.

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