The first chore for a candidate is to win the Iowa Caucuses then
it’s on to the Nov. election. The question may be who is the best
GOP candidate able to win nationwide and support that one.
In the last 10 Presidential elections Iowa has voted for:
DEM .. 6 (88, 92, 96, 00, 08, 12)
GOP .. 4 (76, 80, 84, 04)
....so it's okay to throw away your principles and promote the ultimate in cronyism to win a state that normally doesn't have a damned thing to do with the ultimate nominee????? Yeah, that makes sense.
I think nowadays one has to lump all of the first three primaries together.
The R candidates show their appeal to conservatives (Iowa), and to moderates (NH), then in an open primary (SC).
Normally Cruz or Carson winning Iowa would be no more remarkable than Santorum winning it.
But anyone who can “BEAT TRUMP!” for the media this time will get a lot of bonus coverage they can use.
That may not be as much of a help as one supposes though.