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* [Politics](/section/politics/)

# Join Us at the Picnic!

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by 

[Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/)

Aug 26, 2013 4:00 AM UTC

by 

[Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/)

Aug 26, 2013 4:00 AM UTC

Does any state have a better understanding of the real intersection of money and politics than Iowa, the land of corn, soybeans and caucuses? If so, it’s hard to imagine: though its caucuses are still 29 months away, the Hawkeye State is already renting cars, booking hotel rooms and serving up platefuls of pork chops to White House hopefuls and the reporters who follow them.

It amounts to more than a cottage industry. The state is likely to take in tens of millions over the next 2½ years even as Iowa’s first-in-the-nation contests become less of a predictor (remember, Rick Santorum topped the GOP field in 2012). Yet still they come: veterans like Santorum, who turned up in the same pickup truck he used two years ago, and newcomers like Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who has already made two pilgrimages and has a third on the docket.

Democrats have been slower to pay homage, though Vice President Joe Biden is due. Hillary Clinton doesn’t have anything booked yet–but that’s likely to change. “It seems like it starts earlier and earlier,” says Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, a remark that could have been made anytime after 1976, when Jimmy Carter turned the little-known caucuses into a springboard to the Democratic nomination. Adds Branstad: “We appreciate the attention.” And the economic boost that comes with it.

HAWKEYE HUSTLE: THE CAMPAIGN IS ALREADY ON IN IOWA

A fundraiser lured Rubio just 11 days after the 2012 election

NOV. 2012

1,452 DAYS AWAY FROM THE 2016 ELECTION

NOV. 2016

\[This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine.\]

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