Republican presidential candidates may be doing themselves a disservice by ignoring campaigning in the Northwest quadrant of Iowa, MSNBC reports. 

“There is not a more important region in Iowa than the Northwest counties,” a GOP strategist told MSNBC’s First Read. “While making up just a quarter of the state, they have an enormous, out-sized say in who will win Iowa.”
 

Both Gov. Rick Perry and Congresswoman Michele Bachmann have focused their efforts thus far on the center of the state.

“Sometimes campaigns get a little bit lazy, and they skip the edges, but there’s an awful lot of votes in Northwest Iowa,” Steve Grubbs, former Iowa GOP Chairman conceded.
 

Other GOP candidates including Sen. Rick Santorum, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, and Herman Cain have spent time campaigning in Northwest Iowa counties. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney hasn’t campaigned in Iowa at all.