Iowa is not representative of the rest of the U.S. demographically, yet the state’s caucuses every four years have overwhelming influence on the presidential nomination process. It is this idea that has some critics saying the caucus system itself is inherently flawed. The number of states holding caucuses – in addition to the amount of money spent and extremist positions espoused – have grown exponentially over the past few years, and are a far cry from their grassroots, populist origins. Robert J. Guttman is the director of the Center on Politics and Foreign Relations at Johns Hopkins University. A critic of the caucus system, he recently penned an op-ed for The Huffington Post called “Forget Iowa.” David Redlawsk is professor of political science at Rutgers University and author of “Why Iowa?: How Caucuses and Sequential Elections Improve the Presidential Nominating Process.”
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