With the first vote in the 2012 election only (only?) 11 months away there’s no time like the present for Republican primary candidates to hit the airwaves.

Headlines yesterday touted that Tim Pawlenty, former governor of Minnesota, was the first to purchase ad space in the first caucus state, Iowa. You can see his 30-second spot here.

In fact, the first 2012 Iowa campaign ad ran in November of 2010. The ad promoted the first openly gay GOP candidate Fred Karger.  Despite this indication of his candidacy andhis up-to-date campaign website, little has been said about him.

Even though ads are starting early, this year’s primary will reveal more than just a Republican frontrunner. The relevance of the Iowa caucus is in question

“The weighty question at hand is whether the state will remain relevant in the primary process, and whether it will continue to lure mainstream Republican presidential hopefuls in the years ahead.”

The Republican field appears to be responding to the Iowa Caucus in very different ways.

Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum has been to Iowa 19 times since declaring his bid for the Republican nomination. Recently, he criticized former U.S. Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman and Mitt Romney for not actively pursuing votes in Iowa.

“I think it shows the weakness of their candidacies not to appeal to the broad spectrum of Republicans,”

With 228 days to go, it seems poor Iowans are going to endure more than their fair share political postering from potential Presidential possibles.