As we noted last week (quoting the great Chris Cillizza), “No politician goes to Iowa by accident.” The same generally holds true for New Hampshire — unless you’re already in Vermont and you really, really need to get to Boston.

So former governor Howard Dean’s trip to Iowa Wednesday and his plans to visit New Hampshire next month have gotten bored, horse-race-loving political types (I admit it! I’m one of them!) into a tizzy.

Of course, the less-often-stated corollary to the Cillizza maxim is this: “Most politicians who go to Iowa just want people to think they’ll run for president.” In our view, Dean falls squarely in that camp. Dude’s looking for some press coverage — and he knows that’s the way to get it (see: this blog post). 

Paul Heintz was part of the Seven Days news team from 2012 to 2020. He served as political editor and wrote the "Fair Game" political column before becoming a staff writer.