Why does Iowa launch the presidential campaign?

By WILL WEISSERT and STEVE PEOPLES
Associated Press

Iowa’s caucuses started modestly some 50 years ago. But they grew to hold a pivotal role in how the U.S. chooses a president. The state’s voters propelled little-known one-time peanut farmer Jimmy Carter’s bid for the White House in 1976. In 2008, the state gave Illinois Sen. Barack Obama his first win over Hillary Clinton. But when Iowa’s GOP caucuses start the 2024 election process, the way voters begin choosing the two major parties’ nominees will look different. The order in which states vote has changed. So have some of the rules. It’s a sign of how the two front-runners — President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump — have moved party levers to give themselves an advantage.