The Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary owe their first-in-the-nation status partly to circumstance. But circumstance has not kept Iowa and New Hampshire at the front of the line. New Hampshire passed a law saying its primary always must be the first, and Iowa has been similarly protective. “Iowa caucuses are first-in-the-nation mainly because the state insists on remaining first,” Kathie Obradovich, a prominent Iowa journalist, has said. A typical voter in Iowa or New Hampshire has up to 20 times more influence than somebody in later-voting states, one study found.

Source: New York Times January 27, 2020 00:44 UTC