Post-Iowa

[bungo]

This morning the German news bugs me. Important Media Experts are expounding on the supreme importance of the Iowa caucuses. They laugh at the incongruity of a small farming region having a disproportionate impact on the fate of the free world as we know it. They attempt to compare this to a village here holding an election which results in

Comments

[reverancepavane]

One has to admit that the US electoral system has developed into something far removed from the intent of its designers with the advent of modern communications. Even one of the pre-televison presidents reputedly claimed he wouldn't have been elected if television had been more ubiquitous during his tenure.
But there are so many vested interests that any changes to the system will be extremely unlikely (unless, of course, the media does manage to initiate American Civil War II: Red vs Blue, in which case all bets are off). Although I'd like to place US$100 (or two small coconuts and a handful of rice) on Red if it does happen.
Meanwhile King Corn and New Hampshire are seen as heavy indicators of the way things go. It doesn't help that this ties into the popular self-image myth of the typical American as a rural farmer on a family- [or bank-] owned farm. Needless to say, in reality this is an exceedingly small percentage of the US population.

[bungo]

True enough. But my point is: if The American People, or the Donkey/Elephant Parties don't like how the primary system works, they are free to, and will, change it. For instance, look at the recent juggling of dates of primaries. If there was wide-enough support for a single nationwide primary on a particular day, it would probably happen soon enough.

[dmw]

I could just check, but I'm pretty sure that the primaries and the electoral college distributions are all State responsibilities, no? So you have to coordinate all of them to avoid the knowing-a-result-somewhere-influences-a-vote-elsewhere problem... and even then Honolulu would have to get up awfully early in the morning.

[bungo]

I think you're right. But these people *do* talk to each other.

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