Romney Squeeks by in Iowa Primary Victory?

An eight-point victory in a presidential primary race is not an auspicious win, but it’s still a victory, and that turned out to be Mitt Romney‘s lead in Iowa with Rick Santorum following close behind.

The Iowas caucus night took place on January 3, 2011.  With all of the state’s 1,774 precincts reporting, Romney received 30,015 votes to Santorum’s 30,007. Percentage-wise, the two tied with 25 percent of the vote. [1]   Ron Paul came in third.  Recounts do not occur in such cases, since this is an election within the Republican Party and not a government-sponsored vote.   The close vote will give both candidates momentum going into the New Hampshire primary to be held January 10, 2011.

Evangelical voters were key behind Santorum’s success. Santorum was endorsed Dec. 20 by Iowa social conservative leaders Bob Vander Plaats and Chuck Hurley, after a campaign in which such voters were sharply divided on whether to support Santorum, Texas Gov. Rick Perry or Minnesota U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann. [1]

Presidential candidate Rick Santorum came up from behind after visiting every single one of Iowa’s 99 counties.  Bachmann dropped her candidacy soon after the Iowa vote, and Rick Perry went back to Texas to re-assess his candidacy.  Since 1972, no candidate that has finished worse than third in Iowa has gone on to win a major party presidential nomination.

Update:

Iowa election officials later said that Santorum beat Romney by 34 votes.  However, 8 precincts were omitted or lost from the tally, so no winner could be declared.   In Iowa Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum each took 7 delegates to the Republican convention, with Newt Gingrich taking 1 and 3 unprojected. [2]