DES MOINES, IA — Greetings from the Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites on Merle Hay Road in Des Moines. Tom and I just arrived after a tasty meal at Bennigan’s next door… and a really turbulent flight from Houston (see photo).

While we’re here we’ll be reporting on the first balloting of the 2008 presidential election — the Iowa caucuses — and why some, including Why Tuesday? Advisory Board member Tova Andrea Wang, think they’re out of date.

In 2004, only 6% of eligible Iowans participated in the caucuses. In 2000, it was 6.8% — and that’s the high water mark for caucus participation nationwide. What’s up with that? The New York Times’ Jodi Kantor takes a stab at it this morning, as did Jennifer Jacobs for the Des Moines Register recently. Stay tuned here, to the HuffPost’s OffTheBus, and Rocketboom for our investigative video reports from the ground.