The AP ranked each state on how closely it matched national levels on 21 demographic factors, including race, age, income, education, industrial mix, immigration and the share of people living in urban and rural areas. The rankings were then combined to determine the state that best mirrors the country as a whole.

...

In 2006, the nation was 67.6 percent white, non-Hispanic; 15 percent Hispanic; 13.4 percent black; 5 percent Asian; 1.5 percent American Indian or native Alaskan and 0.3 percent Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander. The percentages add up to more than 100 in part because some people identify with more than one race and Hispanics can be of any race.

The five states least demographically representative of the U.S. as a whole were West Virginia, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Vermont and Kentucky.

Needless to say, the fact that Iowa and New Hampshire don't look that much like America doesn't reduce their desire to hang onto their favored role in American politics:

Iowa and New Hampshire have played prominent roles in choosing presidential candidates for years, with Iowa holding caucuses in January and New Hampshire holding the first primary.

Both states are more than 90 percent white, making them among the least diverse in the country.

Nevertheless, officials in both states have defended their status and pledged to maintain it.

New Hampshire voters are well-informed and steeped in democracy, comfortable asking tough questions of town officials and presidential candidates alike, said Ray Buckley, chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party.

"Ask anyone who has been to the New Hampshire primary and they will tell you about the intensity of the questions," Buckley said. "You are going to have to answer tough questions about Katrina, about drug use in inner cities. You are going to have to answer questions about the war in Iraq and about the slaughter in Darfur."

Seriously, wouldn't Delaware be a great state for an early primary?  We'd get the same opportunity for candidates to boost their candidacies in a 'retail politics' environment as in NH or Iowa, but in a state that's much more representative of America as a whole.  We could follow that up with Oregon, then go from there.