A week from tomorrow, Iowans...

...will vote in their state's caucuses for the Republican nominee for president. Some GOP candidates will exceed expectations and move on to New Hampshire, while others will underperform and probably drop out. (Remember Tim Pawlenty? He withdrew from the race in August after losing the Iowa Straw Poll to Michele Bachmann, who isn't even expected to finish in the top three next week.) 

Some people say that Iowa is too small, or too rural, or too white, or too ... whatever to have such out-sized influence in national politics. After all, how many people do you suppose are expected to actually cast ballots next week? Thirty percent of the population? Twenty percent? Ten?

According to a piece in the Times today (my emphasis): 

About 119,000 Republicans voted in the 2008 caucuses, just under 4 percent of the state’s population.