Iowa has a lot going for it.

Amber waves of wheat, soybean and corn stretch for miles beyond the state's horizon. Iowans overwhelm you with their decency and warmth.

But Iowa's days of starting the presidential vetting process are in doubt after Monday night's debacle with the Democratic Party's vote tally. With the nation watching, the state Democrats bungled their basic mission: produce final results in prime time.

So the search may soon be on for a replacement. And here's an out-of-the-box suggestion: New Jersey.

I know, I know, no one thinks of New Jersey for such an exalted role. If anything, most people think of Jersey as first-in-the-nation in mobsters, pollution and political hacks, all shop-worn stereotypes. But it has a lot of advantages that Iowa doesn't.

Pros for Jersey

For one thing, New Jersey is one of the most diverse states in the nation. Its melting pot electorate is far more reflective of a changing America and the multicultural base of the Democratic Party.

Iowa is roughly 90 percent white, which, the news site Vox.com points out, is a stark contrast with both the country, which is 60 percent white, and the Democratic Party’s base, nearly 40 percent of which is made up of people of color.

Critics have long complained that Iowa — or the second contest, the New Hampshire primary on Feb. 11 — has an outsized role in winnowing the field of front-runners.

New Jersey, which has long been relegated to irrelevance in the presidential vetting because of its June primary, could serve as a more accurate barometer of the Democratic Party's base.

Republicans could also offer a more diverse spectrum of their party. It has its growing Trump redoubts in the South and Northwest, but it could showcase the state's moderate GOP, as embodied by former Govs. Thomas H. Kean and Christie Whitman.

Candidates could not so easily ignore those voters and their suburban demands. Imagine if New Jersey went first this year. President Trump, who owns a golf course in central Jersey, would be forced to explain why he stalled funding for the Gateway train tunnel project or why his $10,000 cap on state and local taxes is such a good idea. And maybe he would hear an earful about offshore drilling, an idea his administration has flirted with.

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New Jersey would also be a great place for retail politics. It's easy for candidates to get around. It has great diners and vast union halls. It has the Rutgers campuses. It has the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop. And it has a diverse, ethnic menu. Iowa has beef and corn dogs.

Cons for Jersey

Of course, as Patrick Murray, the Monmouth University pollster, points out, New Jersey would be expensive. It's wedged between two of the nation's costliest media markets.

That might favor candidates armed to the teeth with money much earlier in the process and give an advantage to billionaires like Tom Steyer and former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, already a well-known commodity in North Jersey.

But then again, it certainly would have given U.S. Sen. Cory Booker a hometown advantage. California Sen. Kamala Harris, whose parents were Indian and Jamaican, might have counted on those communities for support.

The state's burgeoning Latino population might have rallied around Julian Castro, the former Housing and Urban Development secretary for Obama, who is of Mexican descent. Beto O'Rourke, the former congressman from El Paso, could have courted the same Jersey electorate with his fluent Spanish.

Instead, Booker, Castro, Harris and O'Rourke all dropped out of the race before Monday night's caucuses in Iowa. That might not have been the case if New Jersey were the first prize. They could have made a more persuasive case to donors that it's worth plunking down their money on their candidacies. New Jersey is where they could prove their viability.

Murray also notes that New Jersey doesn't "have a culture of high primary turnout and engagement."

"It would be a learning curve to be actually engaged,'' he said.

That also may be true, but the weeks of breathless anticipation leading up to a first-in-the-nation New Jersey primary would certainly upend that tradition.

There would be polling, endless traipsing of national media rhapsodizing every four years about the flinty charm of the boardwalks, rekindling the debate between Taylor ham and pork roll and describing the bluntness of the Jersey character.

It would be great for business. The state would no longer be a national laughingstock. And all of it would certainly boost turnout.

The quaint Iowa tradition, on the other hand, doesn't really encourage turnout. People who work night shifts, or have disabilities, or are just too busy with family life don't have the free three or four hours to sit through a lengthy caucus process.

In New Jersey, voters could just cast their ballots and go home. And the results would be made available by 9 or 10 p.m.

There might be some institutional resistance to the idea. There's the concern about taxpayer cost. Party leaders, who thrive on low-visibility, low-turnout primaries, might fear that a chaotic surge of new, first-time voters — God forfend — will disrupt their smooth, machine-like management of the clubhouse. Bosses prefer to anoint candidates ahead of time.

And Republicans might not be so eager, given the experience in 2008, when the presidential primary was moved to February in a bid to be relevant in the Hillary Clinton-Barack Obama primary.

Droves of unregistered voters signed up for the Democratic Party just to cast a votes and be part of history. But many remained on the Democratic Party rolls long after the primary passed.

At least one veteran Republican is keen on the idea. Mike DuHaime, who managed former Gov. Chris Christie's two campaigns, tweeted Tuesday:

The criticism about Iowa has been building for years, and Monday's vote tally debacle has only intensified the drumbeat for change.

Perhaps it's time for late-in-the-game New Jersey, whose June primary has relegated it to irrelevance in the presidential nominating sweepstakes, to get the leadoff spot.

Iowa has a lot going for it. But New Jersey might just have more to offer.

Charlie Stile is New Jersey’s preeminent political columnist. For unlimited access to his unique insights into New Jersey’s political power structure and his powerful watchdog work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: stile@northjersey.com Twitter: @politicalstile