Iowa is only important by accident, and only by illusion (no delegates committed to a candidate are selected in the Iowa caucuses).
These days, there’s too much money in the lead-off for it not to be spread around. I like the idea of the states with the highest percentage of Republican votes leading off.
Highest proportion of R voters. Yes.
Also: closed primaries only.
If it’s an open primary, it should result in zero voting delegates at the convention.
The importance of Iowa in the presidential nomination process: one of the legacies of Jimmy Carter (along with the mullahs being in power in Iran and Mugabe being in power in Rhodesia).