>On Jan 1, 2008, at 2:10 AM, (Chuck Grimes) wrote:
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>>All of which reminds me, why do you suppose the primary elections
>>always start in Iowa and New Hamshire? Well because they are among the
>>whitest places in the country
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>Yup. Though of course rarely remarked upon - it's just part of the
>national political unconscious that these states are the "real
>America," even though they're far whiter and more rural than the
>places most of us live.
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I don't think this is actually *why* the primaries start in Iowa and New Hampshire. According to Wikipedia, the Iowa caucus attained its current status as a result of the machinations of the McGovern campaign. And New Hamphire has been the first primary since 1920 but it only started getting special attention when Eisenhower unexpectedly beat Taft in 1952.
Seth