The press is becoming increasingly focused on the political facts on the ground in Iowa and New Hampshire, the scenes – respectively – of the nation's first presidential caucus and primary.

It's only a matter of time before the reporters, pundits, analysts, and commentators who today look for nuggets of meaning in these two states, dismiss both electoral contests as meaningless exercises.

So, before the cynicism sets in, The Scrum's Peter Kadzis sat down with Boston Globe politics reporter James Pindell and Des Moines Register chief political reporter Jennifer Jacobs to survey the lay of the land. Jacobs and Pindell are modest and easy going, relaxed in the way that people who have encyclopedic knowledge often are. The trio spoke only a few days after Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz became the first officially declared presidential candidate.  

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