Photo credit: Dave Davidson (Prezography.com)
Iowa and New Hampshire don’t select the presidential nominee for either party, not really. So the banter that goes on between both states about their record is just that – banter.
The role of the early states is to winnow the field down. Iowa and New Hampshire excel at that. Candidates will drop as they realize they don’t have the support and donors to do well before the vote is taken, and they also drop as they underperform expectations in the first two state contests. The Iowa Caucuses and the New Hampshire Primary separates the wheat from the chaff and will make a large field more manageable.
On the Republican side we started off with 17 candidates:
Before Iowa held its caucuses we saw these candidates drop:
- Scott Walker
- Rick Perry
- Bobby Jindal
- Lindsey Graham
- George Pataki
After the Iowa Caucuses:
- Rick Santorum
- Mike Huckabee
- Rand Paul
After the New Hampshire Primary
- Chris Christie (2nd Update: It’s now official)
- Carly Fiorina
Now we’re left (not county Jim Gilmore who for whatever reason hasn’t withdrawn yet despite only receiving 145 combined votes after two states):
- Donald Trump
- Ted Cruz
- Marco Rubio
- John Kasich
- Jeb Bush
- Ben Carson
On the Democrat side their field was much more manageable with only five major candidates.
Before the Iowa Caucuses, these candidates dropped:
- Jim Webb
- Lincoln Chaffee
After the Iowa Caucuses:
- Martin O’Malley
And Democrats are left with a two person race between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
So you’re welcome America. Mission accomplished.