So what is oh-so-important about Iowa, a state that has more bushels of corn than Republican voters?
“Tradition!” insists Timothy Hagle, a political science professor at the University of Iowa.
The Hawkeye State has held the first votes of the presidential cycle in every contest since 1972, when a change in the Democratic Party rules forced its caucus into January for the first time.
That “historical accident,” as Redlawsk calls it, is the genesis of the now-sanctified presidential-nominee-picking tradition. But it wasn’t until Jimmy Carter successfully used Iowa as a springboard to propel his 1976 campaign from Jimmy who? to President Carter that Iowa solidified its spot at the front of the presidential nominating process.
Full Story: How the tiny state of Iowa took command over electing the president