The Iowa election debacle shows why America should look to South Carolina first

“Iowa picks corn and New Hampshire picks presidents,” quipped then-New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu in 1988. And for almost five decades Republican and Democratic party presidential candidates have seen their fates rise and fall in the two states featured first in the nominating calendar.

After the recent and disastrous Iowa Democratic Party caucus, which either Pete Buttigieg or Sen. Bernie Sanders appears to have won, there might be a kernel of truth to Sununu’s oft-repeated adage (and, yes, the corny pun is intended). The reality is that the Democratic presidential candidates have spent almost two years in Iowa — only to have nothing to show for all of their work..

Now as the Democrats’ nominating contest moves to New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina and beyond, it’s worth considering why we even allow such a system.

This is not an attack on Iowans: I visited the Hawkeye State in the lead-up to the 2016 Republican presidential caucus, and I saw the decency of its people. The real issue is that we have leaders in both parties who are continuing to stick with a system that clearly does not work.

Let’s be honest about this: caucuses are glorified straw polls. And who needs Russia when we have Iowa’s dysfunction, which has potentially done just as much to undermine confidence in American democracy? All over the world, tin-pot dictators are laughing.

During my time on the Republican National Committee, I saw firsthand the aggressive lobbying and alliances crafted to preserve the “Iowa-New Hampshire first” system. Frankly, I also worked aggressively to protect South Carolina’s “First in the South” primary, which immediately follows those two states because a compromise can’t be reached on a better system. But with both the Republican and Democratic national conventions approaching, there’s no better time for party leaders to find a better way to nominate their presidential candidates.

Obviously I’m not totally objective about this, but I would suggest that states like South Carolina — which is extremely diverse, possesses multiple media markets and has a proven track record for carrying out presidential primary voting in a professional and exemplary fashion — would be better starting points for both parties when it comes to choosing their nominees.

The somewhat monochromatic Midwest is full of hard-working people who reflect American values. But American values aren’t limited to a region or state; from corner to corner our country is full of people of all races and backgrounds who care deeply about the future.

In addition, I believe that states that want to participate in the presidential nominating process should be required by the national parties to move toward primaries and away from caucuses

Whether it’s Russian interference or local fumbles, America must demand better than what we saw in Iowa.

Matt Moore was chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party and a member of the Republican National Committee from 2013 to 2017.

This story was originally published February 7, 2020 at 3:02 PM.