Game time for the Republican presidential primary begins in earnest this week. The first debate is being held in Milwaukee on Wednesday, and it marks the beginning of a five-month countdown to the Iowa caucuses, during which there will be monthly debates, nonstop campaigning and a likely winnowing of the field.

While this may be when the nation begins to tune in, folks in the early states have been tuning in — either by choice or because of multimillion-dollar ad spending — for months. And so, in preparation for the months ahead, in this installment of the FiveThirtyEight Politics podcast, we take in the view from the early states.

To do that, Galen speaks with Katie Akin, politics reporter at the Des Moines Register; Josh Rogers, senior political reporter at New Hampshire Public Radio; and Joseph Bustos, politics reporter at The State in Columbia, South Carolina.