Howard Dean supports keeping Iowa and New Hampshire first

[JI7]

what do you all think about Iowa and New Hampshire as being first in the nation ? do those who supported Kerry (and Edwards) have a bias in favor of the system because our candidates did well in them ? i support keeping them first for many reasons but i wonder if i would have a different view if Kerry had not done well in them as i suspect many of those who oppose the current system do since whoever they supported did not do well.

many Dean supporters use to bash the system after Kerry won but ever since Dean said he supports there has been less bashing of it from them.

some of the reasons i like those states as first is because it gives the big media less power. it allows candidates to speak to almost everyone in the state who wants to speak to them individually for a long period fo time. it's common for iowa and new hampshire residents to be able to get one on one with various candidates multiple times. the people who vote there are very interested in the issues and process and very informed.

i think a few things that can change is to spread out the process more between iowa/new hampshire and the other states. maybe make another more diverse state like Arkansas one of the earlier states after new hampshire so they can have similar influence.

[TayTay]

1. I'm not surprised by this

I think it's already too late to change the dates. There are too many candidates already running around collecting money and IOUs in Iowa and NH.

Arkansas passed a law to hold their primary on the first Tuesday in Feb. So, there will be some change.

The best reason to keep the primaries where they are is money. Both Iowa and NH are cheap to campaign in and that helps the cnadidates without a lot of recognition to get known. The worst arguments for NH and Iowa is that they are not representative of the American population. (Both have small minority populations.) Candidates love IOWA and NH because they are known, the power structures are known and, at least in NH, you can reach a ton of voters in a relatively small geographic area.

Fine by me. I plan on doing whatever I can in NH when the time comes. (Of course I have always followed it closely as it is, by far, the most amusing thing to do in all of politics. NH primary watching is odd, funny, touching and surreal.)

[angrydemocrat]

2. Like You I'm Not Surprised

And I'm also glad that they are not making any changes to Iowa and New Hampshire. I don't feel that way just because Kerry won there I feel that way because I feel that the people are more able to get to meet and talk to the candidates, talk to them, therefor understanding the candidates better without a bunch of stupid political ads or biased media spin clouding their views of the candidates. To me that makes a huge difference. Like you said it is probably to late to change anyhow due to the candidates collecting IOU's already.

[TayTay]

3. And, ahm, I think those phonecalls

from the Middle East back on the tour in early Jan. had something to do with this. (Well, I wouldn't be surprised.) I think that's part of what Kerry & Dean talked about.

But, that's just tea leaves.

[JI7]

4. when it looked like Kerry was going to lose Iowa and New Hampshire

most of these people had no problem with the fact he would lose the primary overall if he lost iowa and new hampshire.

but when he won that's when some supporters of other candidates started coming out against it.

the Dean supporters have somewhat stopped since Dean supports keeping it. even though they bashed vilsack when he was considering dnc chair for wanting to run to keep iowa first.

[Pirate Smile]

5. When Dean won the DNC Chair, one of the big winners they listed

was Iowa because they said it meant they will keep their first in line spot.

I certainly understand and agree with the critics that point out that demographically Iowa and NH are not representative but I also know the people in these states take their responsibility extremely serious.

It is great for me because I will be in the middle of it, which I love.

None of the campaigns contacted me last time which surprised me. I hadn't lived in Iowa for a full year yet but I had registered as a Democrat to vote.

I may get bombarded next time because I did attend the caucuses.

[TayTay]

6. Oooh, we should put up a website

I will report on NH and you can report on Iowa.

Deal? And I want those strnage little parades and chicken feeds and stuff in NH, as well as some of the pancake breakfasts. Cuz nothing proves you have the stuff to be Pres like an ability to flip pnacakes at 7:30 in the morning. LOL! I love the NH primary. Weirdest frickin event on earth.

[Pirate Smile]

7. You got it!

:)