Making Iowa irrelevant
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The best part of these long-overdue proposed changes is that they don’t even need to target the Iowa caucuses directly or by name. Just establish some obvious criteria for which states might get waivers to jump the queue — do they run a transparent and democratic election, diversity, competitiveness, union density — and you’re good to good because Iowa is going to rank toward the bottom on most of them and above the mean on none:
National Democratic leaders have drafted a proposal that could significantly reshape the party’s presidential nominating process and put an end to Iowa’s prized first-in-the-nation caucuses — a tradition that has shaped presidential politics and boosted Iowa’s place in the American spotlight for the last half-century.
A draft resolution, obtained and corroborated by the Des Moines Register, would set new criteria for early-voting states that favor primaries over caucuses and diversity over tradition.
If the proposal advances, it would upend the party’s presidential nominating calendar by requiring states to apply to hold their nominating contests before the rest of the country and expanding the number of early voting states to as many as five. Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, which currently lead off the process, would not necessarily be given preferential consideration over other states that apply.
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Currently, the DNC’s rules say that no state can hold a presidential primary or caucus before the first Tuesday in March. Iowa has long been exempted from that practice, holding its contest up to 29 days before other states. Iowa is followed by New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, which also are exempted as part of the early window of voting.
Under the draft proposal, all four states — and any others interested in jumping before the rest — would need to seek new waivers to hold an early nominating contest. Up to five states would receive waivers, though the proposal does not say whether the states would all vote on the same day or whether their votes would be staggered as they are now.
If the resolution passes, it wouldn’t prevent Iowa from applying for a waiver; nor would it directly eliminate caucuses. However, it would make the “ability to run (a) fair, transparent and inclusive primary” one of its core considerations in the waiver process. Iowa is required by state law to hold presidential caucuses.
Other considerations would be a state’s diversity, “including ethnic, geographic (and) union representation,” as well as the state’s general election competitiveness.
Ninety percent of Iowa’s population is white, and a Republican, former President Donald Trump, carried the state by 8 percentage points in 2020. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 6.5% of Iowans are members of unions
If these changes go through, I don’t even care if Iowa wants to hold its stupid caucus, as it will have given up even the pretense of being relevant to the presidential selection process.