UMSL political scientist Dave Robertson recently weighed in on national and local election races on St. Louis Public Radio.

2012 promises to be a busy election year featuring contests for several major congressional seats and the office of president.

Dave Robertson, Curators’ Teaching Professor of Political Science at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, and Jo Mannies, a political reporter with the St. Louis Beacon, teamed up for a recent episode of “St. Louis on the Air” on St. Louis Public Radio | 90.7 FM to discuss how the national and local political races are shaping up. They touched on the heated race for a Republican presidential nominee, tea party influence, local congressional races and the possible emergence of a third-party candidate for president.

With the Iowa caucus looming, Robertson said candidates for the GOP presidential nomination don’t need to win the state to win the nomination. He pointed to the 2008 Iowa caucus won by Mike Huckabee, who ultimately lost his party’s nomination to John McCain.

“I think since Jimmy Carter won those caucuses in 1976 and launched himself into the national consciousness, won the democratic nomination and then narrowly won the presidency, Iowa was seen as a kind of an icon for what politicians are able to do,” Robertson said on St. Louis Public Radio. “If they’re not that well known, if they’re starting from a base that’s not as strong as some well-known member of their political party, they can build up some momentum in Iowa and take that momentum through New Hampshire and the other primaries and win a majority of the delegates. That’s the hope.”

Robertson is an expert on national politics and policy, political history, political economy, labor and environmental policy. He is the political analyst for KSDK (Channel 5). Robertson has also written numerous publications, including his recently published book “Federalism and the Making of America.”

Visit bit.ly/uy8IoX to listen to the entire “St. Louis on the Air” discussion with Robertson and Mannies.