( CNN ) -- As each of the Republican candidates claims victory of one kind or another -- having beaten the others , having beaten expectations , having beaten odds or some combination of all three -- and heads eastward for another contest , some thanks are in order . To the people of Iowa . Every four years , presidential candidates descend upon the small , unassuming state to make their case . They do so for months on end , glad-handing farmers and old folk and insurance salesmen in each of the state 's 99 counties , delivering variants of the same stump speech as if its contents had just occurred to them . Over bacon breakfasts and Sunday sermons , these candidates parade their policy positions , personal histories , moral convictions and leadership styles . And then come early January , as just happened today , party activists around the state render their judgment , and thereby establish an important precedent for the primary season to follow . Every four years , one also can count on a bevy of political observers to bemoan this state of affairs . Why should such extraordinary responsibility be vested in one small state ? And particularly one that is a great deal whiter , rural and less educated than the rest of the union ? Stephen Bloom took on the question of `` why-Iowa ? '' in a controversial article for The Atlantic last month , in which he referred to a `` schizophrenic '' and `` culturally challenged '' state , home to some of the `` wackiest '' congressmen and `` scuzziest '' towns in the nation , where the only reason to own a dog is `` to track and bag animals you want to stuff , mount , or eat . '' Given the clear importance of early wins in presidential campaigns , it seems patently nuts to abide a primary and caucus schedule that begins with a population whose interests in ethanol subsidies would appear to rival their concerns for national defense . Again , Stephen Bloom : `` How screwy it is that a place like Iowa gets to choose -- before anyone else -- the person who may become the next leader of the free world . '' Should n't the residents of larger , more diverse states , such as Florida , New York , Texas or California , be given the job of vetting our presidents ? No . And for two reasons . First , it is precisely because of Iowa 's size and community organization that less well-known , and hence less well-funded , candidates can gain traction in presidential campaigns . Though the contents of their war chests are not irrelevantâ€ ” just ask Tim Pawlentyâ€ ” they are not the only relevant factor . For this brief interlude in presidential politics , electoral fortunes depend as much upon the establishment of personal connections and acquisition of key endorsements as on expensive ad buys , which helps explain why Ron Paul and Rick Santorum , who spent little money but lots of time in Iowa , managed to keep pace with the mighty Mitt Romney and his deep Superpac reserves . Were the primary season to begin with New York , the only candidates worth monitoring would be those who , roughly 18 months before the Democratic and Republican conventions even are held , have the wherewithal to blanket the state with television and radio advertising . And this leads to the second reason why our nation benefits from having Iowa -- and then the likes of New Hampshire ( population 1.3 million ) and South Carolina ( population 4.5 million ) -- lead off . To generate momentum in these states , presidential candidates must speak directly to actual voters in these small states . Far and away the most time that candidates ( and later presidents ) spend engaging actual voters , listening to their policy preferences , concerns and struggles , occurs in the months that precede these early caucuses and primaries . If you lament the amounts of money spent in presidential campaigns ( amounts that will only increase in the post-Citizens United era ) or the intellectual poverty of televised debates between presidential candidates , then you should applaud the good people of Iowa . For months at a stretch , they scrutinize the candidates in their homes , diners , meeting halls and churches . For before long , some of these same candidates will be swept up into much larger , more exclusive venues . Could other small states perform the same service for the nation ? Of course . Could they do it better than Iowa ? I doubt it . And regardless , it is because the residents of Iowa engage these presidential candidates as much , and as well , as they do -- inviting not just the candidates themselves into daily activities , but the national electorate as well -- that some gratitude is owed . So thanks Iowa . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of William Howell .
William Howell says now that first caucus over , we should thank patient voters of Iowa . He says some might pick a bigger , diverse , representative state for first caucus . But he says Iowa allows candidates equal time , no matter their campaign coffers . Howell : In Iowa , candidates make their way up close , impossible in populous states .