This David Leonhardt column comparing the demographics of Iowa, New Hampshire, and the rest of the United States is well worth your time. Here's the key point:
It's not just age and health insurance that make the economies of New Hampshire and Iowa unusual, either. When you take a few minutes to look at the two states, economically and demographically, you end up taken aback by all the ways they don't look like the rest of America. They are home to relatively few immigrants, and they are less crowded than much of the country. Traffic jams and sprawl, the bane of many other places, aren't such a big deal in the two states (especially Iowa). Houses are also far less expensive than elsewhere, with the typical one costing about $210,000 in New Hampshire and $120,000 in Iowa. So the mortgage insanity that afflicted the rest of the country over the last few years mostly stayed away from here.
Seems like Leonhardt would be sympathetic to primary reform proposals such as Larry Sabato's. What made me like this piece, however, was the attention he pays to how the demographics of Iowa and New Hampshire shape the issue matrix during the primary season:
The big manufacturing base in New Hampshire and Iowa nudges candidates toward a more protectionist trade policy, because the downsides of trade (lost jobs in older industries) feel so much larger than the upsides (export growth for newer industries, lower prices for consumers). Mr. Edwards talks the toughest about trade right now, and his poll numbers are stronger in the early states than elsewhere. All the while, other thorny problems--like immigration policy and failing inner-city schools--get short shrift. Or consider Medicare and Social Security. Because the states are both relatively old, the debate here tends to focus on what will happen to the programs over the next couple of decades, come what may in 2040.
I'd disagree with the idea that the candidates have neglected the immigration issue, at least with regard to the Republican primary. And on one level, if you value representative democracy, the fact that candidates tend to talk about the issues of concern to the voters in any given state is actually a good thing. Still, Leonhardt's overall point--that probably there are millions more voters thinking about the issues associated with sprawl and development than outsourcing--is well taken.