Well, that really helped Harkin's candidacy, didn't it...
Harkin wouldn't have gotten as far as he did in 1992 if the first national caucus happened to be in, say, Alabama.
Actually, if it was there, we'd probably see a lot more conservative members of both parties getting early leads in the primary races. This is what I mean by candidates getting unfair advantages.
No matter where you start the primaries someone will have an advantage. Unless you had a primary week that included a state from the west coast, the mid-west, the mountain states, north east and the south. Even then certain candidates will have advantages.
I mean if Vilsack and a Dem from NH ran for President I'd hope everyone would essentially abandon the front end strat. Unless you like coming in second wasting most of your money. Of course, some might argue that the 2nd place candidate will get a lot of buzz as people ask the question "Is Vilsack the real deal or just lucky because he's from Iowa?"
