‘Why Iowa?’ explains state’s key role in nomination process

The jab at Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses is a running joke among politicians who dismiss the event as hokey or inconsequential. But the dig is a bit off-base, according to a new book by the University of Iowa’s Caroline Tolbert and fellow political scientists David Redlawsk of Rutgers University and Todd Donovan of Western Washington University.

Published in December by the University of Chicago Press, “Why Iowa?” argues that Iowa has a major influence on the presidential nomination — perhaps too much so. The book calls for reform that would preserve the best aspects of caucusing but create a national primary to give the entire country a say in the nominations.