DES MOINES, Iowa — We are just minutes under way in the Iowa caucuses. Across the state's 99 counties, causes have been set up and are ready to receive supporters in this first leg of the 2008 presidential election. At the hub of the caucuses, where results will come in a few hours, it is busier than ever, with reporters, bloggers, TV networks and radio stations all getting in their last interviews and reports as the caucuses commence.

The question for many in all of this is, why are the caucuses such a big deal? And why is Iowa looked at as, if not the most important state in the election, one of the most? As Matt Frei, the BBC's Washington, D.C., correspondent, told me, "Maybe these politicians don't want to be here ... and maybe they won't come again, but on this occasion, they must do their civic duty, knock on every door that they can, talk to as many voters as they can to try to get them to come out at 7 o'clock and vote."

But why? Only 220,000 Iowans at most will be caucusing, and it could be as few as 120,000 — just a fraction of the state's population of 2.9 million. Furthermore, Iowa isn't exactly an accurate representation of the country, with it being 93 percent white and only 2 percent black. In order to answer this question, I spent Thursday afternoon (January 3) talking to reporters and candidates to try to find out what all of this is about.

Quite a few candidates stopped by the Polk County Convention Center in the past few hours to do their final interviews and garner every last bit of support that they can. I was able to spend a minute with Democratic candidate Bill Richardson, governor of New Mexico, who told me that, to him, Iowa is important because "it is the boost to hit off the first primaries" — the New Hampshire primary will take place in just five days, on Tuesday. Furthermore, he said the Iowa race is extremely unique because "Iowans care about the issues, they scrutinize you. ... This is the birthplace of democracy, and it's an incredible experience to be here."

But is being an exemplar of democracy truly a reason to put this much weight on a single state? According to Shepard Smith, a Fox News anchor, "Iowa is first. It all happened back in the early '70s. There was this big anti-war thing going on with the Vietnam War, and they wanted to change the situation."

Smith was referring to how Iowa, a state that does not have a primary, first gained the honor of kicking off the presidential-nomination process in 1972. The Democratic Party engineered an early start for the state that year, after which the Republican Party followed in step four years later. But that still begs the question, as Smith posed, "Is this the best way to do this? I don't know."

Regardless of whether caucusing in Iowa is the "best" way to start the presidential-nomination process, it's extremely unique. The caucuses are not closed ballots but instead provide a place, on the Democratic side, for people to convince each other and change each other's minds through live debate and seat-shuffling. Republicans opt for a simpler caucus process, but for them, caucus day essentially boils down to a straw poll, with votes cast in secret.

Smith went on to say that, in a Democratic caucus room, "if 15 percent of the people in the room are not on your side, then you gotta get onboard with somebody else, or get out of there and go watch a football game." In other words, voters — those who aren't busy watching the Orange Bowl on Thursday night, that is — group themselves by candidate and, after the initial sorting, each group tries to nab additional voters from other groups. The votes are counted again, and those candidates who don't have enough people in their group are not deemed "viable," and their supporters choose another candidate to get behind.

So, as the caucuses begin and the numbers start coming in, the question becomes: What happens to the winners, and what effect will this night have on the rest of their races? According to Smith, "It gets all of us talking about him or her more, it gets them on MTV News and on Fox News ... we all talk about the effect of it and how it's a snowball going down a hill, but really, we're pushing that snowball."

In other words, perhaps in the end, the numbers and the results of the Iowa caucuses on their own aren't incredibly significant. However, due to the intense media attention paid to this night, a snowball effect comes into play, and the winner gains a momentum that could be extremely helpful in winning the primaries ahead.

Whether the answer to Iowa's importance has to do with its history or the media attention that descends upon this Midwestern state every four years, the next few hours will be our first clue as to who we can expect to represent us in the months and, perhaps, years ahead. Stay tuned!

Check back for more coverage of the Iowa caucuses this evening.