Parties will be prepared to put on quality caucuses, Democratic chair says

DES MOINES - Questioning whether Iowa should maintain its place kicking off the presidential nominating process can seem like a quadrennial event.

But this week was the first time Andy McGuire has had to address it. She is chairwoman of the Iowa Democratic Party, a post she assumed earlier this year.

The issue came up this week when Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus told the National Journal that he is open to looking at the nominating calendar and that he does not think there should be any 'sacred cows” in the primary process.

McGuire responded Friday that the best defense is a good offense.

'We work every day to make this thing the best it can possibly be. And we think that's our best defense against this, every four years somebody wanting it to be different,” McGuire said Friday after appearing on a panel discussion about the Iowa caucuses.

The panel, which also featured former Republican congressional candidate Mariannette Miller-Meeks, was held to highlight the opening of a new State Historical Museum exhibit that displays the history of the Iowa caucuses.

'Our best defense is to make (the caucuses) as transparent, as fair (as possible), reaching out to as many people as we can,” McGuire said.

It also is imperative, McGuire said, that caucus night go smoothly. The 2012 caucuses will be remembered in part for Republicans calling Mitt Romney a narrow victor on caucus night, only to clarify days later after a recount that Rick Santorum actually had won.

This year, both parties have partnered with Microsoft, which will lead the effort to collect, tabulate and publish results.

'Certainly, there's pressure on everything to go perfectly,” McGuire said. 'But Microsoft is an incredibly good company, and they have put extreme resources into this. An entire department, basically, does this. … They're really working hard with us.”

Miller-Meeks, during the panel discussion, pushed back against criticism that Iowa caucusgoers are not representative of the national electorate. She said while that might be true demographically, she thinks Iowans who participate in the caucuses take the role seriously and keep an open mind when selecting a candidate.

'So in many ways, I think Iowans do represent the country,” Miller-Meeks said.

The State Historical Museum exhibit features items and information from throughout the Iowa caucuses' first-in-the-nation history, which dates to 1972.