Iowa's worth - while or less- caucus

Over at the Washington Post's blog Right Matters, renowned conservative and pro-life commentator Ramesh Ponnuru criticizes the Iowa caucus for not representing American in terms of cultural make-up (mainly Caucasian farmers), numbers participation (only 7% of available voters), accuracy (they picked Reagan in '80), and cost-of-living (ethanol).

My response is to shrug the shoulders rather than rebut his argument or justify the rules of the DNC in Iowa. I write

Think of Iowa as the play-in game during "March Madness." The 64th and 65th best teams of NCAA, Division I, men's basketball compete for the chance to be decimated by the supposedly best team in the country. The winner of this 1/2-round has no conceivable hope of advancing past the 'real' 1st round. They simply play first because those are the rules.

Iowa is 1st because inertia dictates it, not because representation dictates it.

He has a point about the overall worthlessness of having Iowa go first, but so do the other responders that no real alternative exists to replacing Iowa with a better option.

My friends: We did it. We weren't just marking time. We made a difference. We made the city stronger. We made the city freer, and we left her in good hands. All in all, not bad, not bad at all. -- Ronald Regan Farewell Address to the Nation --