After a bizarre set of circumstances Mitt Romney will win the Iowa Caucus for the republican presidential nomination by a total of 8 votes. With over 99% of the precincts reporting we have called the Republican Iowa caucus race for Mitt Romney, with Rick Santorum and Ron Paul placing second and third. Rick Santorum came back from just single digit support just a few weeks back and finished just short of a victory in Iowa that would have shocked the GOP process. Any chance of a victory was very unprobable just last week.
After spending over 7 million dollors in Iowa, Mitt Romney used a very negative campaign to win the first test of his presidential bid. The question of how many people really want Mitt Romney as the Republican nominee is still out standing. Mitt Romney has failed to break through the 25% threshold that has been his ceiling for over four years now. Buying TV ads and using Robo calls cannot be the way Mitt breaks through. He will need to find a way to break through to the American people if he wants the nomination.
Gov. Rick Perry may have had the most disappointing finish of the night. After spending millions of dollars in Iowa for his campaign he finished a distant 5th with only 10% of the vote.
Ron Paul finished 3rd in the race and it is suspected that he may have lost the votes he needed for a victory in recent days over his views on foreign policy. Ron Paul has galvanized his base through a fiscal message and an isolationist view of US involvement overseas. Other candidates would be wise to take hold of his economic message and the fact that many in the country are war weary.
Newt Gingrich who finished in a disappointing 4th with 13% may have the most potential of the 2nd tier candidates in the Iowa caucus results. While he took a betting from the deceptive campaigning from the Romney camp it may be that this did not hurt him as much as it first appears. While the Romney advertisement killed the momentum of Newt Gingrich it did not draw support to the Romney campaign. Newt Gingrich congratulated Rick Santorum on his big night, "He ran a great positive campaign."
Moving on to the New Hampshire primary Mitt Romney may won the Iowa race but with his false attacks on Newt Gingrich the momentum may have shifted to Ron Paul and Rick Santorum in the Granite state. Mitt Romney must win New Hampshire to have a shot at the nomination and with Ron Paul riding the wave of momentum this may derail his chances to win New Hampshire and setting up Newt Gingrich to win the South Carolina and Florida primaries.
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