That could be Carter, too, couldn’t it? During the 1976 election cycle, former President Jimmy Carter cemented the playbook for Iowa Caucus success by meeting Iowans in small diners and coffee shops and talking to them directly about the ways the next ...

In 1975, political consultant Tim Kraft’s job was to turn “Jimmy who?” into Jimmy Carter, the bona fide presidential contender. It was a tall order for a first-term Georgia governor. He was almost entirely unknown outside his home state, had no money and boasted just a tiny campaign infrastructure.

Former President Jimmy Carter, the candidate who put the Iowa Caucuses on the nation’s political radar, has died at the age of 100. In the 1976 Iowa Caucuses, Carter stunned the political establishment by finishing ahead of four U-S Senators and the Democratic Party’s 1972 nominee for vice president.