Iowa stars in first act of US campaign drama

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Des Moines, Iowa, Jan 3 : we’ve got two successful parties and people are very active and pay attention. It’s something that has worked,” he said.

In the most important way, Iowa is not at all different from the rest of the country, said Peverill Squire, a political analyst at the University of Iowa.

“If you look at the issues that drive people — the Iraq war, health care, economic worries — the concerns of people in Iowa are very similar to the rest of Americans,” he said.

Iowa has been a swing state in recent presidential elections, going narrowly for Democrat Al Gore in 2000 and Republican President George W Bush in 2004.

More than 120,000 Iowans took part in the 2004 Democratic caucuses. Republicans did not caucus because the incumbent Bush was unopposed. Both parties hold caucuses this year.