you can watch american artifacts programs online anytime. go to c-span.org/history. this is american history tv. all weekend, every weekend, on c-span3. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] >> this year, c-span is touring cities, exploring american history. up next, a look at our recent visit to des moines, iowa. all weekend, every weekend, american history on c-span 3. >> americans have tried to bypass iowa, either because they do not think the party is a good fit for what their message might be. sometimes they are worried they cannot campaign here because they are against certain issues that are important in iowa. as problem is that as long the media continues to pay attention to the iowa caucuses, the candidates are basically

missing out on part of the debate and part of the spotlight if they are not here. there is over 1000 precincts, and people gather at a certain time during the day. they start at 7:00, usually. they can expect to spend a couple of hours. voting on a presidential candidate is only one thing they do during the caucuses. there are also discussions about platforms. different parties have different rules, but they stand separately to be elected as delegates to go on in the process. it is a much more involved time commitment. itis also something where draws more activists than rank-and-file party members. has had -- iowa caucuses as long as it has been

a state, at the caucuses were something that nobody outside of iowa paid attention to until the early 1970's. the iowa caucuses became prominent out of the 1968 democratic national convention riots. the national party, because of the turmoil at that 1968 national convention, decided they needed to make their process more inclusive. i wanted to get more young people, more racial minorities. fact that a big part of their party was anti-vietnam war. part of that process, iowa looked at what they were doing. they wanted to make it more inclusive, have more notice for these caucuses, i get possible for more people to participate. but because iowa's process is the caucuses and then a series of conventions, they had to figure out a schedule that would allow them to get all of these meetings in, and also print all

the paperwork in between. one of the party lore, the party stories, is they had this old mimeograph machine that was very slow at printing, so they needed print all the material. so they set a calendar that made the -- made iowa the first nomination in the nation, in 1972. that was not necessarily the goal, but it was the reality. george mcgovern, the senator democratic the presidential nomination -- he was not the establishment favorite. his campaign manager was a young man named gary hart. becomes a name that is much better known later on in his political career, that at georgeme managing mcgovern's campaign decided they needed a boost going into the new hampshire primary. he spent a few days in iowa, courting the boat. he did well in the caucuses,

came in a close second, and got a bit of a bump going into new hampshire. in 1976, ans later, unknown georgia governor decides , iowa might be a way to get on the national stage, going into the primary season. so jimmy carter comes out to iowa, when's the caucuses, and is launched to the white house. from there, iowa could never be ignored again. the iowa caucuses have really grown from 1976. 1976, the in republicans decided to start having their caucuses on the same day as the democrats. sincearties have caucused then. the only year i would did not have a competitive caucus race was in 19 82. that is when senator tom harkin, who was from iowa, decided to run for president, and the other democrats decided not to campaign in iowa. harkin did not make it to the

nomination, but there was not much of a caucus campaign because of that. they'd are, in 2008, when -- later, in 2008, when iowa's governor ran, he was inundated with other candidates in iowa and dropped out early. that iowa courtesy happened only once, and probably never will again. iowa has become not really a rocket to the white house for presidential candidates. it is more known for winnowing the field. the old adage was, there is three tickets out of iowa -- first class, and standby. first-class, coach, and standby. you have to do well in iowa to have a good chance of making it to the nomination. three, first four places, depending how many candidates there are. typically, candidates who do not do well in iowa have dropped out

. at least one or two candidates have dropped out after iowa. iowa is also a place, historically, where the establishment favorite or the national front runner often gets a little air let out of him. as you have a situation, again, where you have activists who are either more liberal or conservative than the party, generally speaking. so iowa oftentimes does not that thee person nation, the national party, the bigwigs, think ought to be president. you do not have to look further back than 2008, when everybody before the caucus cycle was talking about hillary clinton as being the presumptive nominee. who comes out of the woodwork? and one term illinois senator, barack obama, won the iowa caucuses, we just was to his credibility as someone who could win over even predominantly

white midwestern states like iowa. of course, he made it to the white house. .hat is the most recent examples republican caucuses, mitt romney, very likely to be the republican nominee. in fact, he did go on to win the republican nomination. but here in iowa, he was not guaranteed the vote of iowa caucus-goers. he lost the caucuses in 2008 mike huckabee -- to mike huckabee, and evangelical popular with conservatives, little-known governor from arkansas. in 2012, it was rick santorum, former pennsylvania senator, considered the darkest of dark horses on the national scene. he actually practically tied with mitt romney for the caucuses in 2012.

as they counted this historically" a couple weeks later, it turned out romney was actually edged out by santorum. >> game on. really getend to keyed into politics because of the caucuses. of a -- even sort if not everybody participates, everybody watches it. it is a fun spectator sport for .owans therefore, the have opinions about the issues. -- they have opinions about the issues. >> find out where c-span's local content vehicles are going next, online at c-span.org. you are watching american history tv, all weekend, every weekend, on c-span 3. >> coming up next, matthew pinsker joins journalists to discuss the evolution of the american wartime press from the civil war to the present. they talk about the relationship between the press and the