Should Illinois Be First?

Hi this is Leslie Harris. As you may have heard, the last time Iowa had a presidential caucus, there were all sorts of technical difficulties, and the whole thing turned into a big mess. Iowa has now lost the right to hold the first Presidential election type event. There are several states that are now lying for that position, including Illinois.

Now my first thought when I heard this was, yay! Illinois! We get to be first!

I have voted in so many primaries that have already been decided by the time they got to Illinois that it’s a little bit frustrating. On the other hand, sometimes I appreciate that my choices have been whittled down.

But, here’s the thing that concerns me most. The people that are vying for this honor argue that Illinois is a great cross section of American voters, due to the fact that we have a large urban population, a large suburban population, and a large rural population. I’m not sure I agree with this, but I’m also not sure that I don’t.

Illinois is a pretty Blue state, however, we did have a Republican governor just a few years ago.

So what do you think? Do you think that Illinois represents the country? Should we be the first to have our primary in the next Presidential election? Let me know in the comments.