<Li> In the 2004 primaries, John Kerry, whose campaign had been sagging in prior months, won the Iowa caucus while John Edwards unexpectedly finished second, over heavily favored Howard Dean and Richard Gephardt (the latter two had been trading negative attacks in the weeks leading up to the vote). Gephardt immediately ended his campaign, while Dean's post-concession speech drew negative attention . Kerry went on to overcome Dean's initial lead in New Hampshire to win that primary, and eventually the Democratic presidential nomination . </Li> <Li> In 2008, frontrunner Hillary Clinton, whose campaign initially banked on a knockout victory in Iowa, unexpectedly finished third in that caucus behind winner Barack Obama and John Edwards . Clinton then pulled off a comeback victory in New Hampshire where Obama had been leading the polls . Although Obama and Clinton were largely well matched in most of the subsequent primaries, Obama's better organization and uncontested caucus victories were crucial to his winning the Democratic nomination . </Li> <Li> In 2008, John McCain, initially struggling among Republican contenders in 2007, decided to skip Iowa and concentrate on New Hampshire (the same primary where he had unexpectedly triumphed back in 2000) and McCain's win rejuvenated his presidential campaign and he became the Republican nominee . Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, two candidates who had each led in the polls in 2007, did not perform as expected in Iowa and New Hampshire . </Li> <Li> In 2012, Mitt Romney was initially reported to be the first Republican non-incumbent presidential candidate, since the Iowa caucus started in 1976, to win both the Iowa caucus (albeit, by an 8 - vote margin over Rick Santorum) and New Hampshire primary . However a final count released by the Iowa state party sixteen days after the caucus contest reported Santorum as the winner by 34 votes over Romney, but by then Romney had already won New Hampshire by a comfortable margin . </Li>

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