Almost 20 presidential candidates have cooked pork chops with state lawmakers. They've blanketed the airwaves with advertisements. And they've made a few ideological concessions that happen to appease in-state voters.

But behind the scenes, the campaigns understand that Iowa's complex nominating process means that simply winning a voter's support before the caucus is only the first step.

That's because Iowa's caucus system, the first nominating contest in the nation, is a fairly complicated process. The state will be followed by Nevada, Alaska, Maine, and Wyoming, among others, which all hold closed caucuses within the first six weeks of voting this year.

But in the minds of many, the system is not particularly democratic.