The Iowa Caucus was a total mess in 2020. The DNC and Iowa staff were involved with a computer software development that was way over their production capabilities. It was full of bugs, not ready for prime time, and delayed the certification process for the whole month of Feb. Mayor Pete may have edged out Bernie Sanders, but no one knew it for a whole month, long after the NH Primary.
Early caucuses are useless if there are not timely results. Just ask Rick Santorum, who won the IA Caucus against Mitt Romney but never got a bump because his results, too, were delayed for months when no one cared any more.
The contrast between Iowa’s caucus execution and NH’s primary execution always makes NH look good.
This is the first NH Primary that will be led by the new Secretary of State, Dave Scanlan.
Former NH SOS, Bill Gardner, had administered the NH Primary since 1976. Bill was always a very non-partisan person, a Democrat who was appointed during the radical, extreme, GOP Mel Thomson administration, and he earned a very positive reputation and had the confidence across the ideological and Party spectrums.
While Dave Scanlan may be new in his promoted position, he was Bill Gardner’s right hand man for decades after he left the NH House. Scanlan was a member of GOP House leadership when he was in the House. He was very respected, and a very eloquent and frequent speaker in the House well. Like Bill Gardner before him, there hasn’t been a trace of partisanship from him since he moved to the SOS office.
Scanlan knows what he’s doing, and no matter what happens, or what confusion is caused by the Iowa results, NH’s will be solid, reliable, and timely.
Finger’s crossed that Iowa processes their results that can give voters’ confidence in their timely results.
Unfortunately, that expectation isn’t reliable based on Iowa’s historical performance.
