Iowa’s winter blast could make an unrepresentative way of picking presidential nominees even more so

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Most Iowans won’t be out Monday night. Never mind that it’s forecast to be well below zero, with wind chills as low as minus 40 degrees, and the roads may still be icy from a set of snowstorms that hammered the state this past week.

It’s because they’re not registered with the Republican Party, which is kicking off the presidential nominating season with its famous caucuses. Or because they don’t want to make the commitment to attend, which involves getting to the nearest of 1,500 caucus sites and sitting in a room — potentially for hours — for the chance to vote on the party’s presidential nominee.

But the winter weather, intimidating even for Iowa, will make an already unrepresentative process even less representative. Elderly Iowans, the backbone of the caucus, are wondering how they will make it to their sites Monday. Political types are mentally downgrading their expected turnout and wondering who a smaller, harder-core electorate will favor.

All this gives longtime critics of the caucus even more reason to be critical.

What to know

• The details of how the caucuses work can surprise and mystify even hard-core political junkies. Your guide to Iowa.
• After months of campaigning, the Republican candidates vying to unseat President Joe Biden in November are facing their first formal test from voters.
• Why does Iowa launch the presidential campaign? Let’s go back to January of 1972.
• Donald Trump’s campaign is hoping to generate a commanding win in Iowa’s leadoff voting contest by attracting new caucusgoers. This is how an animated character named Marlon could help achieve that goal.
• In 1972, there was one man with a calculator. How Iowa turned the caucuses into an enormous political prize. Our Very