In Iowa, Romney edges out Santorum by 8 votes

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Daily Caller:

DES MOINES, Iowa — Eight votes.

That’s all that separated Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum when the dust settled on the GOP Iowa caucuses, after what was undoubtedly the closest Hawkeye State contest in memory. The 122,255 caucus-goers awarded 30,015 votes to Romney and 30,007 to Santorum.

After hours of waiting for two holdout precincts to report their vote totals, one filed its results and another’s were seemingly lost.

The last precinct in Keokuk County made its results official just after 1:00 a.m. Central Standard Time, around the same time GOP political strategist Karl Rove was reporting what — according to his source at the Republican National Committee — happened to the final precinct tally in eastern Iowa’s Clinton County.

In Clinton County, Rove said, a missing vote tally prompted observers from the Romney and Santorum camps to huddle together and agree on what the reported totals should have been. Their consensus, which Fox News later confirmed through a second source, was that Romney prevailed by 18 votes.

That scenario overcame a previous four-vote Santorum edge and appeared to award Romney a 14-vote victory. When Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn made the final announcement at 1:34 a.m., however, he said the margin was just eight votes. Strawn also cautioned that precincts have two weeks to officially certify their results.

Hours before the margin between the two top finishers reached photo-finish dimensions, Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, led an emotional speech to supporters with a clarion call of “Game on!” Santorum told his crowd that he was taking his surging campaign to New Hampshire in an effort to solidify his role as the conservative alternative to Romney.

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Iowa results should worry Republicans

 

Mitt Romney's victory, even by just 8 votes, reinforces the likelihood that he'll be the Republican nominee. True, that by coming out of nowhere to fight Romney to a virtual tie, Rick Santorum has breathed new life into his campaign, and has a chance to consolidated support if Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., drop out. But Romney was able to win Iowa without campaigning heavily here. He has a commanding lead in New Hampshire and the money, resources and organization to sustain a multi-state campaign.

 

But even if Romney wins the nomination, the Iowa results don't bode well for when it comes to assessing the Republican Party's chances of beating President Obama in November. Though turnout was up from the 2008 caucuses, it was only up by a few thousand votes, even as GOP voter registration grew and more candidates were contesting the state. Romney actually got six fewer votes this time than he did four years ago, but it was enough because nobody matched Mike Huckabee's appeal.

 

Four years ago, Democrats were frothing at the mouth to win back the White House after two terms of President Bush. Starting from Iowa, the enthusiasm they felt was palpable -- and they would have been ready to fight for whoever emerged as the nominee. The night he won the caucuses, Obama addressed a crowd with thousands of supporters going wild. We haven't seen any of the GOP candidates attract that sort of affection. And the entrance polls suggest conservatives still have major doubts about Romney. Tonight's big winner may turn out to be neither Romney nor Santorum, but Obama.

 

http://campaign2012.washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/iowa-results-should-worry-republicans/290696