Race is On: Iowa Caucuses kick off the nomination season

Well, today's the day.

The New Year is here and the presidential nomination season is officially under way.

Sort of.

For today we have the Iowa Caucuses, the first "official" vetting of the contenders for the November elections.

We say "sort of" since the Iowa event is more popularity contest than primary. They get a lot of attention from the media and the candidates but don't really mean that much.

In the Iowa Caucuses. Democrats and Republicans gather in the state's more than 1,600 voting precincts and select delegates to the county conventions. There delegates are selected for the party district and state conventions. Then delegates are picked to go to the national party conventions, where the nominees are selected.

The Republicans have it pretty easy. Incumbent President Donald Trump is likely a shoe-in though he faces competition from former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld and former Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh.

Democrats face a tougher choice. They have to pick from a field of candidates with Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden considered front-runners.

Winning in Iowa can make the difference between continuing in the race or dropping out. Those who do well can raise more money than those who do not. And money is key to running a campaign for any office, especially the presidency.

But there is also a dirty little secret about the Iowa caucuses that few talk about - most who do well in Iowa never make it to the White House.

In fact only two non-incumbent candidates who won most of their party vote in Iowa have ever gone on to win both the nomination and the presidency - George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz edged out President Trump by one delegate in 2016

In any case, the niomination season has finally begun. The race is on. And you'll be hearing a whole lot from all sides more until November - whether you want to or not.

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