Mitt Romney Wins: Iowa Caucus Results 2012

Mitt Romney was projected the winner of Tuesday night's Iowa caucus.

The former Massachusetts governor emerged victorious over former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Penn.) by a razor-thin margin of just eight votes. The final results, announced early Wednesday by the Iowa GOP, showed Romney had 30,015 votes to 30,007 for Santorum.

Despite the victory, Romney was unable to garner 25% percent of the vote. With 99.5% of precincts reporting, Romney won 24.6% to Santorum's 24.5%. In all, more than 122,000 straw ballots were cast, a record for Iowa Republicans.

Although the results are non-binding when it comes to picking Iowa's 25 delegates to the GOP convention next summer in Tampa, Romney will take a projected 13 delegates to Santorum's 12, The Associated Press reported.

Heading into the leadoff vote of the 2012 election season, recent polls showed Romney holding a slim lead over rival contenders U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Santorum. Paul placed third in the contest.

In 2008, Romney poured $10 million into his campaign in Iowa, but ultimately came in second place behind former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Romney returned to the Hawkeye State last year with a scaled-down operation. In recent months, however, the Republican hopeful's team made moves to step up its game in Iowa with campaign ads and voter outreach efforts.

Check out the live blog below for the latest developments out of Iowa.

According to National Journal, Mitt Romney received a slim majority of votes in the Iowa caucuses because the groups resistant to him didn't coalesce behind a single alternative. Evangelical Christians gave Rick Santorum the largest slice of their votes. But the all-important independent block? They voted for Ron Paul.

As for Iowa, the entrance poll, which surveyed 1,737 Iowans on their way into the caucuses, made clear that Paul?s strong showing was overwhelmingly a function of attracting voters beyond the Republican core. In the survey, independents increased their share of the caucus vote from 13 percent in 2008 to 23 percent this time; Paul won over two-fifths of them. Young voters aged 17-29 were 11 percent of the vote last time and increased to 15 percent this time; Paul won almost half of them. And the share of caucus-goers who identify as moderate or liberal spiked to 17 percent from 12 percent last time; Paul won 39 percent of them.

In all nearly two-in-five of those voting Tuesday night said they had not previously attended a caucus: Paul captured 34 percent of them, far more than Santorum (22 percent) or Romney (17 percent). All of this could make Paul a wild card in states that allow independents to participate in Republican primaries ? including New Hampshire, the next test.

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@ jonward11 : WOW RT @jasonnoble1: The @DMRegister LITERALLY stopped the presses tonight to get Mitt Romney's 8-vote victory into final edition #iacaucus

@ Philip_Elliott : Worth noting: 3 out of every 4 Iowa caucus-goers supported someone who wasn't Mitt Romney. #2012 Counter: SCOREBOARD

@ HuffPostMedia : 'I can report...Governor Mitt Romney received 30,015 votes, Santorum received 30,007 votes.' 8 VOTES. EIGHT. VOTES. Craziness #iacaucus

A total of 122,000 Iowans voted in the caucuses.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was projected the winner of Tuesday night's Iowa Caucus by Matt Strawn, Chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa.

DES MOINES, Iowa -- Romney campaign officials on his Iowa staff -- David Kochel and Brian Kennedy -- high-fived and exchanged hugs when they heard here that they had won the state by a reported 14 votes.

Moments later, about a dozen young Romney campaign volunteers raced into the now-empty ballroom where Romney had spoken one hour earlier, yelling, cheering, and hugging one another.

In the bigger picture, Romney's Iowa win is secondary to the fact that former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa) virtually tied him. But it is still a win. And for his Iowa advisers and staff, it's a moral victory.

"It's just a whole lot of people who worked really hard to get here. It's nice to be a point or two ahead," Kennedy told The Huffington Post.

-- Jon Ward

JOHNSTON, Iowa -- Rick Santorum and his inner circle were unsurprisingly pleased with Tuesday night's results, campaign manager Michael Biundo said early Wednesday morning.

While they sat upstairs for more than an hour awaiting the results, the candidate, his staff and advisers watched television and talked strategic successes and failures, Biundo told reporters. But the anticipated phone call between Santorum and rival Mitt Romney did not materialize, he said.

When it became clear that Santorum did well, there were "a lot of smiles, some hugs, some tears," said Biundo. "I might have shed a few tears," he added. "I think everybody shed a few tears."

Biundo said he couldn't be sure how the result would change their strategy going forward, but hinted that the campaign may bolster its staff.

"My phone just keeps lighting up," he said.

-- Elise Foley

@ dmrcaucus : RT @jenniferjjacobs: @mattstrawn tells us it's too soon to call it despite what @FoxNews is reporting. One precinct left to confirm....

@ cbsjancrawford : Romney team says he won by 14 votes. Just talked to state party officials.

Karl Rove, appearing on Fox, is reporting the same figures.

@ samsteinhp : fox is reporting that karl rove's info was correct and romney's votes had been undercounted

The Des Moines Register reports:

Turnout at Tuesday?s Republican caucuses approached the record set four years ago.

More than 117,000 Iowans were expected to have filled schools, churches and community centers Tuesday night to cast votes in the closest election in caucus history.

Click here to read more.

@ AntDeRosa : Going by Google's numbers, Santorum is up by 4 votes : 29,968 to 29,964

@ TPM : CNN reporting Mitt Romney is just ONE vote ahead in Iowa

HuffPost reports:

In an appearance on Fox News Tuesday night, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin suggested that Rep. Michele Bachmann's (R-Minn.) campaign for the Republican presidential nomination may be coming to an end after a disappointing showing in the Iowa caucus.

Click here to read more and see video from Palin's appearance.

Rick Perry hasn't formally quit his presidential campaign yet. But the expectation is he will, and it appears his own staffers have resigned themselves to that outcome."25 degrees in Aiken, South Carolina," tweeted Scott Edward Smith. "My boss just quit his Presidential campaign and bars close in 30 minutes. Shit."

@ Ssmith06 : 25 degrees in Aiken, South Carolina. My boss just quit his Presidential campaign and bars close in 30 minutes. Shit.

Scott Edward Smith, according to his Facebook page, lists Rick Perry for President among his activities and interests. The URL on his twitter account is the governor's office's economic development office as well.

But as soon as attention began to turn toward his tweet, he clarified that he hadn't based the statement on any insider knowledge.

"Nothing official," he emailed The Huffington Post, "sorry."

-- Sam Stein

Cedar Falls Patch's B.A. Morelli and Alison Gowans report:

Political watchers say Mitt Romney did what he had to do in the Iowa Caucus and has a clear path to the Republican nomination for president.

While former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum virtually tied Romney Tuesday, he lacks the general appeal to truly contest former Massachusetts governor, experts say. Meanwhile, for third place finisher Ron Paul, the results were a setback for him.

Now Romney heads to New Hampshire. Santorum may - or he could just focus on South Carolina.

Read more.

@ MittRomney : Thank you, Iowa! What better place than the heartland of America to start the restoration of America?s heart and soul.

@ FixAaron : From IA GOP spox: "There are currently 2 precincts outstanding ... As soon as they are counted, IowaGOP will make an announcement."

Rick Santorum, unwilling to let anyone trample on his night of good news, casually dismissed the significance of John McCain's endorsement of Mitt Romney, which is reportedly coming in New Hampshire on Wednesday.

"It's fine. I expected that," he said. "It's a surprise he hasn't done it earlier."

Appearing on CNN, Santorum went on to laud McCain as a "great man" who had sacrificed more for the country than anyone he knew.

"I commend Governor Romney for getting his endorsement," he added, "but I'm not surprised by it. John is a more moderate member of the Republican team and I think he fits in with Mitt's view of the world."

McCain's reputation for moderation (not entirely supported by his record) makes his endorsement a bit of a double-edged sword for Romney. But not in New Hampshire, where the Arizona Republican remains beloved. If anything, it could persuade Santorum to start framing the next contest as an imbalanced, unreliable affair.

"It would be smart timing," one GOP strategist who has worked with McCain said of the endorsement. "Romney wants to win every day moving into New Hampshire. New Hampshire is probably the only place that a McCain endorsement could really help."

-- Sam Stein

@ HuffPostHill : Just to be clear: Rick Santorum leads by 5 votes. 58 people voted for Herman Cain. This is how the world works.

Before final results were officially released, Romney spoke to voters after the Iowa Caucus. He took the opportunity to take a jab at Rick Santorum, who had just finished his own speech.

"Congratulations to Rick Santorum. He's worked very hard in Iowa," Romney said. "We also feel it's been a big victory for us here. Ron Paul as well."

"This is a campaign night where America wins," Romney continued.

Romney also took the opportunity to attack Obama.

"Almost everything the President has done has made it harder for businesses to grow," Romney said.

Romney hit Obama as "a nice guy but just over his head," criticizing him on foreign policy and the economy.

"This is not just a statistic, 25 million people, unemployment 8 and a half percent, these are real people," Romney said. "They sometimes lose their marriages, lose their faith, become depressed. This is a tragedy."

"This election is bigger even than jobs and a strong economy," Romney said. "It's bigger than a budget that's balanced. It's really an election about the soul of America."

-- Paige Lavender and Melissa Jeltsen

Jon Huntsman's presidential campaign was first out of the gate with a statement wishing Texas Gov. Rick Perry the best as he reflects on what to do in light of his fifth place Iowa Caucus finish:

Mary Kaye and I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for our friends Rick and Anita Perry. As he returns to Texas, where he implemented the kind of pro-growth policies that our country desperately needs and President Obama failed to deliver, we wish Rick and his family all the best.

It's hard to imagine that Perry would throw his support behind Huntsman, though the two have more in common than, say, Perry and Mitt Romney. Still, it's a quick and smart attempt on behalf of Huntsman to try and elbow his way into those Perry supporters who are, like the candidate, re-calibrating after Tuesday night's disappointment.

-- Sam Stein

On Sunday, Iowa pollster J. Ann Silver published a column that explored several "what-if" scenarios involving her data for the just published Des Moines Register Iowa Poll.

The Register poll found that that over the last two days of interviewing last week, Mitt Romney ran narrowly ahead of Rick Santorum (24 to 21 percent).

However, Selzer's survey also found fewer evangelical Christians (34 percent) among its likely caucus-goers than the network entrance poll had found in the 2008 Republican caucuses (60 percent). So she re-weighted interviews so that the evangelicals comprised 60 percent of participants and found that it moved Santorum ahead of Romney by five points (25 to 20 percent).

The Iowa Poll also found fewer senior citizens among the caucus-goers (17 percent) than had been measured by the 2008 entrance poll (27 percent). So Selzer also tried weighting up the seniors to 27 percent of the vote, and found that it moved Romney ahead of Santorum by seven points (26 percent to 19 percent).

And what happened? According to the most recent weighting of the network entrance poll, which closely matches the virtual dead heat between Romney and Santorum, Evangelical Christians were 57 percent of this year's caucus-goers and seniors were 26 percent. In other words, both what-if-scenarios came to pass, resulting in the near tie.

-- Mark Blumenthal

@ jonward11 : romney crowd silent as Santorum talks about Bella, his disabled daughter

@ howardfineman : Mitt made Rick go first, so Rick is filibustering a bit to put Mitt deeper into the night...

@ howardfineman : Because of Santorum, we are about to get a deep education in conservative Catholic culture. Didn't with Pat Buchanan cuz of other issues.

@ howardfineman : Santorum a wonk, we are also about to learn -- we are seeing it in his "victory" speech.

@ howardfineman : Don't forget that Rick Santorum is against birth control. Can someone with that view get elected president?

Santorum spoke with voters Tuesday night before the official results of the Iowa Caucuses were released.

"I've survived the challenges so far from the daily grace that comes from God," Santorum said after proclaiming "game on."

"Thank you so much Iowa," he continued. "You, you, by standing up and not compromising, by standing up and being bold and leading, leading with that burden and responsibility you have to be first, you have taken the first step of taking back this country."

"We as Republicans have to look at those who are not doing well in our society by just cutting taxes and balancing budgets," Santorum said. "So that's why I put forth a plan Iowans responded to."

"You want to know what's crushing business? This administration is crushing business," Santorum said.

Santorum went on to "thank God" for those who cling to guns and Bibles and promise to move forth with his campaign.

"The message I sent to you tonight is not an Iowa message, or an Iowa and South Carolina message," Santorum said. "We will be in New Hampshire. With your grace, we'll have another fun night there, a week from now."

Earlier on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/04/mitt-romney-iowa-caucus-results-2012_n_1181822.html

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