Our Opinion: Transformational Losers  On Nov. 6, America's
presidential election will produce a winner and a loser. But it
may take decades to know who was which.  The Iowa caucuses on
Tuesday are the first formal step in winnowing the GOP field for
that general-election matchup with President Barack Obama.
Certainly, every candidate from surging Rep. Ron Paul of Texas
to Republican establishment favorite Mitt Romney wants to win.
But winning an election is a narrow definition of success. A
triumphant candidate may be stuck in the policies of the past
and become no more than a footnote to history; the losing
candidate can be prophetic and end up transforming our politics.
It has been said that Barry Goldwater, the conservative icon who
lost in a landslide to Lyndon Johnson in 1964, actually won that
election; it just took 16 years to count all the ballots and
make Ronald Reagan president.  George McGovern's victory took
even longer than Goldwater's. Few campaigns have been as
seemingly disastrous as his over