Those three contests pitted a dominant establishment figure against a scrappy insurgent who challenged the front-runner from the left.
He challenged the front-running David and drew clear in the homestretch, winning by one length over Out of Mind, with David third.
He challenged the front-runner's delegates, throwing the national convention into disarray, after which both he and his opponent, Robert Edgeworth, claimed victory.
In 2012, former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania finished a surprising first in Iowa and strongly challenged the front-running Mitt Romney until the former Massachusetts governor and eventual GOP nominee began pulling away on Super Tuesday.
Their live show is a strange phenomenon: the singer Adam Weiner whirls across the stage and accosts his piano in direct channeling of Jerry Lee Lewis, endlessly challenging the front row to accept his velocity.
"There's lots to do to challenge the front," he said.
"Nobody every challenges the front-office.
Right now, though, it's hard to see how he could challenge the front-runners.
He said he believed the state was his best hope for challenging the front-runner, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts.
"It makes it nearly impossible for a dark horse candidate to break out of the pack and challenge the front-runner(s) and thus isn't healthy for the process," Mr. Weaver wrote in an e-mail message on Sunday.
Hurricane Fly made a belated attempt to come out of the chasing pack and challenge the front-runners, but it was Nicholls' charge, impressively led by the wily Fehily, which stayed on best up the hill to secure victory.
