A day after South Dakota’s neighbor, Iowa, gave a big win to former President Donald Trump, reporter Tom Lawrence has a great history on the Iowa Caucuses, which as he writes owes a great deal to U.S. Senator George S. McGovern of South Dakota and his 1972 presidential bid:
Why do the Iowa Caucuses have such an impact on the presidential campaign — even with a spotty record for picking a winner?
Blame South Dakota Sen. George McGovern, and his campaign manager Gary Hart. They listened to a young aide named Rick Stearns who noted that the Iowa Caucuses were actually ahead of the New Hampshire Primary, which traditionally kicked off the race for the White House.
McGovern was running for the 1972 Democratic presidential nomination, and he had almost no chance in New Hampshire, which was a neighboring state to Sen. Edmund Muskie of Maine, who had impressed political experts, reporters and voters with his performance as the running mate to Sen. Hubert Horatio Humphrey in 1968.
You can read the entire post here.
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