Just making the obvious point here that being able to ad lib small talk about muffins in an Iowa diner is not actually an especially important skill for a president to have. Sadly, however, our media have convinced many voters that this is, in fact, what they should be looking for in a candidate.
People - and I include myself in this - make their choices for all sorts of dumb reasons, but our media helps to make people think that the dumb reasons are actually the things that matter.