 Have you ever wondered why candidates need to eat corn dogs, turkey legs and cheese curds to be considered presidential material? Well, you can thank the Iowa caucus for that. Since the Hawkeye State is the first to choose their presidential nominees, every four years, candidates flock to the state fair to stuff their face with the local cuisine, all to get votes and prove they're just like us. But how did Iowa become the pace car of the presidential primary? And what the hell is a caucus anyway? Here's how it works. The Iowa caucuses are basically the alternative to the primary elections every other state is doing. And the Democrats hold caucuses that are a bit involved. First, registered Democratic Iowa voters head to their precinct location. At the precinct, candidates or campaign reps might give an 11th hour pitch to voters. Then, voting starts. Voters physically group into their favorite candidate section. They can also move to an uncommitted group. Democratic candidates need to get 15% or more of the votes to be viable. In round two, voters who supported non-viable candidates have some options. Move to a group with a viable candidate, support another non-viable candidate who needs to get to 15%, convince supporters of other non-viable candidates to support their candidate, or do nothing and go home. Once voting is over and through some weird political transitive property, we end up with a candidate who is considered the winner. An incredible honor to campaign across Iowa. Thank you, Iowa. Thank you very, very much. For Republicans, things are a lot more straightforward. Basically, people vote for their candidate with secret ballots. Once results are in, the elected delegates are chosen to attend the county convention. Wait, that's it? In both parties, these results translate to national delegates down the road. Iowa has had this caucus system since it became a state in 1846. But for a long time, voter turnout was low because the process was badly regulated, but everything changed in 1968 after the infamous Democratic National Prevention in Chicago. Well, they all have different points of view and they're some powerful leaders. So they get down to a convention and you can expect to have something happen. And it is happening. To make a long story short, political bosses, unelected local party officials who pulled all the strings, used to basically decide the presidential candidates for their respective parties. All behind closed doors, which meant public opinion was often not in line with what was going on politically. In 1968, he did primary season, ended with the nomination of Hubert Humphrey, a candidate who didn't even run in the primaries. The Dems had some huge reckoning to do as a party and along with a lot of other things, officials changed to the nomination process. Their decisions gave us the primary system we have today. So what makes Iowa so special that it goes first? The truth is, there wasn't a major plan, it just kind of happened that way. Iowa's long-nominating process, combined with a new rule requiring a 30-day notice for primaries, resulted in the state being first in 1972. And since Iowa was first, candidates paid more attention to the state's voters than the media followed. By the time 1976 rolled along, a little-known peanut farmer from Georgia helped solidify Iowa's important role. Jimmy Carter's small campaign didn't have the clout to compete in bigger state primaries. So he bet big on Iowa and it paid off. He basically spent a whole year in the state talking to voters in the local press and ended up winning a quarter of the state's vote, which was more than twice as much as his closest rival. And the extra media attention from his Iowa upset took him all the way to the White House. Jimmy Carter was the first to show us the oversized influence little Iowa can have over the nomination process. Whether you like it or not, Iowa is the litmus test, proving how well, or not, a candidate's campaign is working after almost a whole year and a half on the trail. In reality, Iowa isn't the most important state election. They're just the first. So every four years, everyone pays attention to them. And with all that media attention every four years, there's a growing amount of criticism about Iowa's pace car status. For one, the state doesn't exactly reflect how diverse America is. 40% of our country is not white. Meanwhile, white folks make up 90% of Iowa. There was a lot going on in Iowa yesterday and it was also opening day for the state fair where butter is big. And they say Iowa doesn't have culture. Another big criticism is how small it is. More people live in the city of Los Angeles than in the entire state of Iowa. And some people think that the first state that votes should be more reflective of what America looks like. But think about this, Iowa has consistently voted for diverse candidates on both sides of the aisle. Islands can proudly say they nominated the first ever black and female nominees for any major party. But look, regardless of if we stay with Iowa as the first or another state gets to go first, let's be real, we're never gonna make everyone happy. And honestly, it might not even matter anyway. Since 1972, about half of candidates picked in Iowa have gone on to be their party's nominee. So even if a candidate does take Iowa, it's still basically a coin toss. But voting's gotta start somewhere, so at least for 2020, we can thank Iowa for all these unflattering photos of our potential next president. Hey guys, thanks for watching this video. I had a lot of fun making it and I learned a lot about the Iowa caucuses, which is saying a lot considering I lived in Iowa for two and a half years. Anyway, if you like what you saw, please subscribe to attention on YouTube and we'll see you next time. Thanks!