How To Work Primaries

An interesting proposal for deciding the order of the presidential primaries was given by David Yepsen of the Des Moines Register recently.

Yepsen suggests that the first primary should be held in the state that was the closest in the last election; the second primary should be in the second closest etc.

Of course, Iowa and New Hampshire are never landslide states anyway. In 2004 Kerry won New Hampshire by a small margin and lost Iowa by a similarly small percentage. In 2000, it was the other way around, with Gore barely winning Iowa and barely losing NH.