We're asking a simple question as we cover this election year:

What kind of America do its people want?

It's a question so simple that every time I ask it, I feel the need to explain why.

Why aren't we asking whether Marco Rubio can cash in on his good showing in Iowa and become the Republicans' surprise package?

Why aren't we asking whether in this corn-rearing, God-fearing state, Ted Cruz's position on ethanol subsidies will hurt him more than his Christian credentials help?

Why aren't we asking whether the latest revelations over Hillary Clinton's emails will be a trauma or a tremor?

Well, we are asking these questions and hearing plenty of interesting answers.

But we're determined to keep them in perspective. Not to let these and the myriad other intriguing but ultimately incidental questions this election will bring distract us from one that is much more fundamental.

What kind of America do its people want?

Since reporting from Iowa and New Hampshire, I've posed it to a dozen people or more. Each time feeling the need to tell them where it's coming from.

From the sense that the two men to inhabit the White House this century so far have represented two very different visions of America. Both to the outside world and to the many Americas within.

From the sense that America has to think about what it wants to be before it can choose who will lead it.

And from the sense that America's decision matters as much for the rest of the world as it does for itself. This is the one election that the whole world has a stake in.

That's why our question for America is really one for everyone:

What kind of America do you want?

It sounds so simple. But it's a big question.

Tell us what you think using the hashtag #WhatAmerica. And we'll take your answer to the primaries and beyond.