Romney squeaks out victory in Iowa

DES MOINES, Iowa, (Reuters) – Republican  presidential candidate Mitt Romney squeaked out a victory in  Iowa’s first-in-the-nation nominating contest yesterday as  little-known rival Rick Santorum rode lingering conservative  unease to a surprise second-place finish.
Romney edged out Santorum by only eight votes, winning by  30,015 to 30,007, the state Republican Party announced.
As the Republicans headed for their next contest in Romney  stronghold New Hampshire, the result solidified his frontrunner  status in the battle to pick a challenger to President Barack  Obama in November’s election.
At the same time, it underscored Romney’s inability so far  to secure the trust of his party’s conservative wing and  consolidate support ahead of what is likely to be the most  expensive presidential election campaign in history.
Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator who until recently  has been little more than an afterthought in the race, was the  latest candidate to benefit from Romney’s weakness, which has  allowed a succession of rivals to challenge him.
“Game on!” Santorum declared to cheering supporters as votes  trickled in after the agonisingly close contest. “People have  asked me how I’ve done this,” he said. “I survived the  challenges so far by the daily grace that comes from God.”
Santorum and Romney, a former Massachusetts governor who has  relentlessly attacked Obama for his “failed presidency” and  touted his experience as a businessman, each took 25 percent of  the vote. Ron Paul, a Texas congressman, came in third place  with 21 percent of the vote.
After the bruising contest, at least one candidate, Texas  Governor Rick Perry, indicated his presidential bid may be over.
“I’ve decided to return to Texas, assess the results of  tonight’s caucus, determine whether there is a path forward for  myself in this race,” Perry said after a disappointing fifth  place finish.
With deep reserves of cash and a strong campaign  infrastructure, Romney will emerge from Iowa in a stronger  position than his rivals.
A favourite of the party’s business wing, Romney holds a  commanding lead in next Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary and has  the resources to compete in bigger states like Florida at the  end of the month. A Republican official said Senator John  McCain, the party’s 2008 nominee, will endorse Romney today.
“This has been a great victory for him,” Romney said of  Santorum. “We also feel it’s been a great victory for us.”
Romney fares better than other Republican candidates in  head-to-head matchups against Obama, but he has been unable to  crack 25 percent in national opinion polls of Republicans. His  share of the vote on Tuesday matched the 25 percent he won in  2008 in a disappointing second-place finish.
Santorum vaulted from the back of the pack to emerge as the  latest conservative favorite in a race marked by volatility.  Campaigning in all Iowa’s 99 counties, he emphasized his  home-schooled children and opposition to gay marriage in a bid  to win the state’s large bloc of Christian conservatives.
Santorum staked his campaign on a strong showing in Iowa but  with little cash and a bare-bones campaign operation he could  have difficulty competing in other states.
Santorum so far has avoided the scrutiny that has derailed  other candidates. Though he touts his ability to sell  conservative ideas to Democrats and independents, Pennsylvania  voters threw him out of office by an 18-point margin in 2006.
Rivals have begun to comb through his legislative record to  paint him as a free-spending budget-buster.
Iowa is better known for narrowing the field than picking  the eventual nominee. Conventional wisdom holds that there are  three tickets out of the state, though McCain was able to  overcome a fourth-place finish in 2008 conventional wisdom holds  that
Paul’s unorthodox views, including supporting a return to  the gold standard and an end to a U.S. overseas military  presence, have won him a passionate following among voters who  feel deeply alienated from more mainstream candidates. He will  have an uphill climb translating that into wider support among  Republicans.
“Protecting your personal rights and your economic rights  are what the government’s supposed to do, they’re not supposed  to run our lives or spend our money,” he told supporters.
Most of the candidates have topped opinion polls at some  point and many voters said they were undecided even as the  caucuses got under way.
Voters gathered in schools, churches and other venues around  on a cold evening in the midwestern state, listening to  supporters tout the various candidates before casting their  ballots. Democrats and independents were allowed to participate  as long as they re-registered as Republicans at the site.
Outside groups associated with candidates, known as “Super  PACs,” took advantage of loosened campaign-finance rules to  flood the Iowa airwaves with negative advertising.
Former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich saw   his support dwindle under a barrage of attack advertisements,  many from a Super PAC run by Romney allies. He finished in  fourth place.
Despite the negative onslaught, “everywhere we went people  were positive,” Gingrich told supporters. “They really wanted to  get to the truth rather than the latest 30 second distortion.”
Another candidate, U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann,  fared worse. The lawmaker from neigbouring Minnesota has lost  momentum since topping an informal tally in August. She finished  in sixth place with 5 percent of the vote but vowed to press on.
Sparsely populated Iowa only yields 25 delegates of the  1,143 needed to lock up the Republican presidential nomination,  and those delegates aren’t actually awarded for months after  Tuesday’s caucuses.
About 120,000 participated in Tuesday’s Republican vote, and  another 25,000 participated in the Democratic caucus — about 8  percent of the state’s eligible voters.
Still, the state is likely to play an outsize role in U.S.  politics  through to the Nov. 6 election.