Why Iowa?: How Caucuses and Sequential Elections Improve the Presidential Nominating Process (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780226706962)

If Barack Obama had not won in Iowa, most commentators believe that he would not have been able to go on to capture the Democratic nomination for president. Why Iowa? offers the definitive account of those early weeks of the campaign season: from how the Iowa caucuses work and what motivates the candidates' campaigns, to participation and turnout, as well as the lingering effects that the campaigning had on Iowa voters. Demonstrating how "what happens in Iowa" truly reverberates throughout the country, five-time Iowa precinct caucus chair David P. Redlawsk and his coauthors take us on an inside tour of one of the most media-saturated and speculated-about campaign events in American politics.

Considering whether a sequential primary system, in which early, smaller states such as Iowa and New Hampshire have such a tremendous impact is fair or beneficial to the country as a whole, the authors here demonstrate that not only is the impact warranted, but it also reveals a great deal about informational elements of the campaigns. Contrary to conventional wisdom, this sequential system does confer huge benefits on the nominating process while Iowa's particularly well-designed caucus system--extensively explored here for the first time--brings candidates' arguments, strengths, and weaknesses into the open and under the media's lens.

Author: David P. Redlawsk, Caroline J. Tolbert, Todd Donovan
ISBN-10: 0226706966
ISBN-13: 9780226706962
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Language: English
Published: 12/15/2010
Pages: 336
Format: Paperback
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 8.80h x 5.90w x 0.90d

Review Citation(s):
Choice 08/01/2011