re: #382 thedopefishlives

In 1972, the Democratic Party made changes to the way they did nominations in the states. Iowa, with one of longest and most complex series of caucuses, decided to start early and effectively go first. That’s literally it - the only reason they are the bellwether for American presidential elections is because they had a more asinine process than anybody else in the country.

Iowa Caucus results on the Republican side:

2008: Mike Huckabee
2012: Rick Santorum
2016: Ted Cruz

Rick Santorum also won the Colorado caucus in 2012, which kind of blew my mind.