I’m not sure how many presidential candidates I’ve interviewed over the years. Too many to count. Some of the candidates resonated with Iowans, others didn’t. In 2008, Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee got some love; Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani didn’t. Some play the media like a violin, others are clueless. Some understand how crucial local coverage is, others don’t.

I remember back in 2012 when Sarah Palin was still considering running. She was in town making an appearance and her security waved me through. Later that evening during a pause in activities, I asked the security director why he let me approach. “The suspenders,” he said. “And wrong side of 50.”

In 2008, Joe Biden was great. He made all of us small media guys and gals feel as if we’d known him forever. Joe was never in a hurry. Never “too busy.” Hillary? “Too busy.” She occasionally dipped her toe into the waters of rural Iowa, but preferred our larger cities. (Yoo-hoo, Hillary! I’m right here!)

Mitt Romney gave me a couple of interviews, but his staff wouldn’t let him out of arm’s reach, and I felt as if I was a quarterback with a mike in the middle of a football huddle.

In 2012 Rick Santorum was around so much, it was like he was a neighbor. He fit in just fine — sweater vest and all. In 2007, Chris Dodd, a Democratic senator from Connecticut, moved into the state, but it didn’t help him. He looked too much like lots of city folk do: afraid he was going to step in a pile of cow poop.

At a summit on agriculture in Des Moines in 2015, when all the original candidates were in the race, Republicans seemed to know very little about agriculture. Mr. Bush, George Pataki and Rick Perry were somewhat conversant with agricultural issues. The rest appeared to think food magically appeared on grocery-store shelves. The national media, from what I could tell, were equally clueless. Every corner of this country is different. People in Montana might be concerned about the loss of glaciers in Montana. In California, the drought. In Louisiana, the oil industry. In Texas, border issues. In coastal New England, the fishing industry.

Martin O’Malley had to Google the price of corn and beans — not a good thing to have to do in Iowa. Lindsey Graham knew the price of corn and beans, but not much else about Iowa’s economy.