Romney wins Iowa Caucus, with Santorum second very narrowly, Paul a strong third
Eight votes. After weeks of campaigning in Iowa, Mitt Romney’s
margin of victory was eight votes. However, the really extraordinary thing
about the result is that Rick Santorum’s margin of defeat was eight votes.
Both Romney and Santorum got about 25% of the vote, Ron Paul
21% and Newt Gingrich 13%. Rick Perry , who finished fifth with 10%, has
retired to his home-state Texas to consider whether or not to continue his
campaign. Michelle Bachmann (5%) and Jon Huntsman (1%) seem to be fighting on
to New Hampshire, but for their campaigns one suspects that the damage is
irreparable.
Santorum was a relative unknown two weeks ago and this is an
extraordinary result for him. Whilst Romney has maintained his votes from four
years ago, Santorum really has burst from nowhere and is now a serious
candidate. Ron Paul converted his poll figures into caucus votes, whilst Newt
Gingrich has to fight back in New Hampshire or his campaign may find a severe
drop in funding.
And what of Romney? There must have been a lot of relief in
his campaign in the early hours of this morning when the result was confirmed.
By an unbelievably small margin, the perennial front-runner remains just that:
his is the face which will appear the most on news bulletins this morning. Had
those eight votes gone the other way, he would have claimed a joint-victory,
but would have done so having come second, and some damage would have been done.
Now, Santorum faces an uphill battle away from the evangelical heartlands of
Iowa to become more than a flash in the pan, whilst Romney has some plain
sailing in his strongholds to look forward to.
That is, unless there is another twist in this tale.
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