Ohio Republican Party: Its Official GOP Blog Echoes Strickland's Iowa Caucus Concern

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Ohio's Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland has been catching flak over a comment that the Iowa caucuses make "no sense." There is speculation that the remark will go down as the governor's gaffe. Now the Ohio Republican Party -- no ally of Strickland -- has linked to a USA Today editorial that seems to share his sentiment that Iowa should not have such crucial power over the presidential selection process. A link to the Ohio GOP blog is here.

The USA Today editorial it cites raises concern that Iowa's voter participation is too low, the voting is too early, and the state is too tied to an agricultural economy to be any kind of stand-in for the rest of the nation when it comes to the serious job of picking a president. The Ohio GOP -- by giving that concern prominence on its partisan Web site -- seems to be saying it agrees with Democrat Strickland. Here's USA Today:

"It seems odd that candidates would spend months, and millions of dollars, in Iowa in pursuit of an election that would barely constitute a neighborhood in some large American cities. It should. Iowa is not tiny, 30th in population according to the Census, but its time-consuming caucus process means that only 8% of the population will participate."

The newspaper said that about 87,000 Republicans will caucus, according to predictions ahead of the voting -- that's not even a full house at a Washington Redskins game. For Ohioans: It's not even close to a full house at Ohio Stadium when the Buckeyes play; it's just a tad smaller than the population of Parma, Ohio.