[HoosierDammit]

Bob Dole and W won Iowa on their way to the nomination. Romney damn near did (was actually the announced winner on election night) without even trying. So, 3 out of the last 4 Republican caucuses led to the eventual nominee. On the D side, Iowa has been the site of big wins for Carter, Mondale, Gore, Kerry, and Obama. And losing Iowa can be devistating, as Howard Dean and Mitt Romney (’08) can attest. Howard Dean should be an especially cautionary tale to Trump, as Iowa showed just how thin his support with “real” voters turned out to be.

So is Iowa the be-all, end-all? No, of course not - but it ain’t exactly the Carrol County Fair Corn Poll, either.

[ripnbang]

Bob Dole and W won Iowa on their way to the nomination. Romney damn near did (was actually the announced winner on election night) without even trying.

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Part of what has plagued the pundits, media and many of the GOPe candidates this go around is the “default position” of doing things the same or looking back on campaigns in the past. I don’t think Dole, W or even Romney’s “almost win” in Iowa really has any bearing on this cycle. It’s a whole different type of race and the times are very different. Dole ran in’96...in the fast paced world of politics today, that is eons ago. Heck, this is a radically different country than it was before B.O. was elected, and that wasn’t even 8 years ago.