The Iowa Caucuses: Let's All Just Ignore Them

Gail Collins has an opinion piece in the NYT today which succinctly explains what's going to happen tonight in Iowa (oh, not who's going to win, but how they take place). And her conclusion is pretty reasonable:

People, ignore whatever happens here. The identity of the next leader of the most powerful nation in the world is not supposed to depend on the opinion of one small state. Let alone the sliver of that state with the leisure and physical capacity to make a personal appearance tonight at a local caucus that begins at precisely 7 o’clock. Let alone the tiny slice of the small sliver willing to take part in a process that involves standing up in public to show a political preference, while being lobbied and nagged by neighbors.

Essentially, the caucuses are a screaming match between a handful of people who can be motivated to brave the weather to stand around for hours arguing politics in front of other people. If your candidate's group is too small, you have to abandon him (or her) and choose someone else. Sometimes, it comes down to a coin flip (Seriously. “A game of chance is used to determine which groups may remain.”)

This is not the way we should choose a president. And we should refuse to allow the media to hype this into some kind of decisive moment. (Chris Dodd just sent me an email saying "tonight all eyes are focused on Iowa, where caucus results will determine who gets a ticket to New Hampshire and who goes home." Cripes, Chris.)

It's bad enough that the media has pretty much decided that Obama, Edwards, and Clinton are the only people "really" running. The Iowa caucuses don't deserve the attention, the respect, and the clout they get.

ps - Kucinich wants his supporters to join Obama's. If I were in Iowa, I'm not sure I'd do it. DK has issues with Edwards, but he's way closer to us on position that Obama is. But that's me... and I don't know how to run a campaign. I just know that electing people on the basis of how well they run hasn't managed to give us a lot of people who know how to govern well...