At least 18 months before each presidential election, prospective candidates for the highest office in the United States have, since 1972, flocked to the otherwise unsung midwestern state of Iowa. All of these challengers hope to jumpstart their campaigns with a victory in the Iowa Caucus, held on a single frigid winter evening prior to the upcoming November election. It must have taken astonishing foresight and planning for a small state like Iowa to wangle the first-in-the-nation presidential contest, right? On the contrary! The origin of the Iowa Caucus turns out to be a case study in circumstance and happenstance rather than foresight and planning. Furthermore, the subsequent evolution and likely demise of the Iowa Caucus appear to be highly subject to the influence of accidental and unintended consequences.