From a Politico item on the possibility that Ron Paul might win the Iowa Caucus: "if Paul were to finish first, many Iowa GOPers believe that would be hard for the Hawkeye State to recover from in terms of maintaining premiere status in the nominating process."
Previous Iowa caucus winners include Mike Huckabee (2008), Bob Dole (1988, 1996), and George H.W. Bush (1980).