Time To Get Rid Of The Iowa Caucuses? Hardball Panel Argues State Is ‘Unrepresentative’

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by James Crugnale | 7:29 pm, December 20th, 2011

» 9 comments

On Tuesday’s Hardball, radio talk show host Michael Smerconish questioned whether it was time for the Iowa caucuses to walk through that mystic corn field and join Kevin Costner’s father in the sky.

“Does the state of Iowa really deserve to hold the first presidential nominating contest?” Smerconish asked, referencing an article from University of Iowa’s Stephen Bloom in The Atlantic. “A lot of people have been saying lately that it doesn’t, including a University of Iowa professor who’s lived in the state for 20 years and writes, ‘In a perfect world, no way would Iowa ever be considered representative of America or even a small part of it. There are few minorities, no sizable cities, and the state is about to lose one of its five seats in the US House because its population is shifting. Still, thanks to a host of nonsensical political precedents, whoever wins the Iowa caucuses in January will very likely have a 50% chance of being elected president 11 months later. Go figure.’ Is it time for another state to be first in the nation?”

TheGrio‘s Joy-Ann Reid criticized Iowa as “demographically unrepresentative.” “I think in a lot of ways, Iowa is an anachronism,” Reid said.

RealClearPolitics’s Erin McPike disagreed with the other panelists, thinking rural America was being given a voice with the Iowa caucuses being the first to vote in the nation. “This is the one time ‘fly-over country’ gets a say,” McPike argued.

Smerconish advocated for “regional primaries” as opposed to individual states.

The host later asked the panelists about if a Ron Paul win in the state would be the final straw for its bellwether status.

“If Iowa gets discredited because Ron Paul wins, it won’t be because MSNBC says it’s discredited, it will because of opinion leaders on the right…if he wins, opinion leaders on the right will say, ‘eh Iowa didn’t matter,” said Reid.

Watch the Hardball panel debate whether Iowa should still hold the first contests in the nomination process via MSNBC:

Hardball, Iowa, Iowa Caucus, Iowa caucuses, Joy-Ann Reid, Michael Smerconish, msnbc

Anonymous

Wish this guy could replace Chris Matthews.
AMP2020

Matthews isn’t so bad! The show and format needs reworking, I think. But I like Matthews’ love of politics even though I don’t always agree with him. He’s the most giddy personality on TV when it comes to talking politics.
http://twitter.com/TemitopeS Temitope S.

”
‘In a perfect world, no way would Iowa ever be considered representative of America or even a small part of it. There are few minorities”

…people are individuals and their ideologies and opinions are not locked into their racial/minority status. People of the same minority group don’t always think the same way. Get out of the class/group mentality of dividing society and move towards the idea that each person is an individual with their own mind. It is okay to understand and think about groups of cultural similarities, but that is not a concrete thing. We make those groups up with our minds.
shonangreg

Matthews is very undisciplined when it comes to letting other people finish their sentences. I see his intelligence, but he needs to practice self-control. Otherwise all those brains are just going to waste.
AMP2020

Yeah, but that’s what you get on MSNBC and Fox. It’s just how they do business for the most part. There are exceptions but it’s mostly partisan hackery.
shonangreg

The interruptions are not standard faire. I agree it happens too often, but it happens too often even in daily life. Usually it is just the last few words that overly anxious “interrogators” talk over. Matthews (and O’Reilly) stand out for how much they interrupt whenever the urge strikes regardless of where in a thought the “subject” is. Colbert does it too, I guess as part of his character, and even his show suffers as a result. It is just a bad habit no matter if it is partisan, biased, or a product of ego. It damages the interview.
AMP2020

Can’t really compare Colbert… Not only is he a character but also on a shorter clock.

I actually agreed with O’Reilly’s reasoning for being like that (this was right after his Superbowl interview when he was accused of it). He said he has limited time and can’t let someone go on and on.

On one hand, I know this can be B.S. sometimes. On the other, I don’t blame him since so many people are just rehearsed talking points. That being said, I haven’t heard any “break-through” interviews with O’Reilly so he might want to try something new occasionally.
http://twitter.com/TalkingWithYale TalkingWithYaleCohn

Some of the guests on our recent show about Bloom’s article make a pretty good case as to why Iowa should be first in the nation.

http://patv.tv/blog/2011/12/18/talking-with-stephen-blooms-observations-oniowa/
http://www.facebook.com/tocard Johnson Rice

The truly amusing thing is that the Republican leadership hasn’t figured out yet that it’s actually THEY who are the anachronism. There’s a reason why Paul has the support of the younger generation – and that reason is the internet. Young folks are done listening to the big government incumbant line towing media lies. They make their own decisions based on actually looking at ALL of the facts and developing their OWN sense of morality. It’s called independent thinking, and individualism – two values which USED to be core to the GOP.