There’s talk now that, thanks to South Carolina pushing its primary back and New Hampshire doing the same in response, the Iowa caucuses could come as early as mid-December. (I discuss this a bit in my Brainwash column today, which also includes musings on Ames and interest group candidate forums.) The whole point of states’ insistence on holding their nomination contests early is to heighten their importance. But mightn’t this strategy have diminishing returns? Much of the press goes quiet from Christmas to New Years, after all; it seems like the break in coverage could greatly dilute whatever momentum a candidate gets from winning in Iowa.
