Obama: On this January night, at this defining moment in history. You have done what the cynics said we couldn't do.

(applause)

A first-term Illinois Senator conquered an unbeatable front-runner amid overwhelming odds. On a January night in Iowa, Barack Obama had changed the game.

(applause)

Obama: You have done what America can do in this New Year, 2008.

But President Barack Obama was not the first to springboard to the presidency from Iowa. His journey stood on the shoulders of four decades of caucus history. Presidents, and candidates with their own combination of success and failure, have come to Iowa pursuing the nation's highest office. Iowa's role in the American political landscape isn't merely picking presidents. History shows us Iowa has a part to play in shaping races, even if the outcome ends in failure in November. Chapter by chapter, from the early days in the 1970s, to the battle of future presidents in 1980, the rise of evangelicals, and the twists and turns in between that make the Iowa caucuses an unconventional, yet often followed, journey to the presidency. It is a story best told by those who witnessed it firsthand, in Iowa.

I am ready to be President of the United States.

I know what the polls say and I know what the press says ...

...a friend of the farmer in Senator Bob Dole.

...take back the White House!

...Game on.