Torched sheds and ‘snap’ votes: The Iowa caucuses have been a hot mess for a century

In politics, new chaos often obscures old chaos.

For instance, the meltdown in Iowa.

The pundit class, before boarding flights Tuesday from Des Moines to New Hampshire, was bewildered by the Iowa Democratic Party’s failure to report results — any results — in its presidential caucuses.

But the Iowa caucuses have been a hot mess for more than a century. Adopted from the moment Iowa entered the union in 1846, the caucuses instantly became riddled with drama by inept and corrupt party leaders.

Because caucuses, unlike primaries, had to be held at set hours so that town citizens could appear and organize themselves in support of candidates, there was no shortage of high jinks to rig the process.

While Iowa’s 2020 caucuses were a symbolic hot mess, in the late 1800s, there were actual hot messes.