Remember when you had to actually campaign in Iowa to contend there?

Newt Gingrich and Herman Cain, both of whom ride high in early state polls, have spent more time promoting their own interests and book projects than on the trail in Iowa and New Hampshire. Mitt Romney, another top finisher in early state polls, has barely been in Iowa or South Carolina at all this cycle, concentrating almost solely on New Hampshire, where his brand of Republicanism plays better…

Indeed, the retail phase of the campaign is about to begin in earnest, since only two major televised debates are slated for December — both of them in Iowa.

“The number of primary debates may have delayed the necessity for more constant on-the-ground candidate activity,” said Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California. “Because the debates get so much news media attention, they’ve served to introduce the candidates to voters in a news media context.”

“I think it’s been nationalized for other reasons,” Schnur added. “A lot of it is the debates. A lot of it is the still-growing influence of cable and online news coverage. You don’t have to sit down with the Des Moines Register editorial board in order to reach Iowa voters. It helps to go on WMUR to talk to the people of New Hampshire, but there’s a lot of other ways to reach them too.”