CBS News has communicated the results of the first contest for the Republican presidential nomination. The competition between the two candidates was very tight, but in the end Mitt Romney defeated Rick Santorum by 8 votes.
Although Mitt Romney’s campaign was better organized, Santorum managed to gather enough support to stay only 8 votes behind his rival, Romney. Everybody thought Santorum would win when he told reporters “Game on” in Johnston, Iowa before the results were made public, but they were wrong.
Santorum congratulated Romney for his victory, but invited electors to support him next week in New Hampshire. The next caucuses will be held on January 10 in the city of New Hampshire where Mitt Romney seems to have a big lead over Santorum.
If Romney wins the Granite state he would be the first non-incumbent president to register a victory in New Hampshire and Iowa since 1976. Back then, the cities were established as critical early states in the nominating process.
Based on the results of the Iowa caucus, Santorum won the support of 30,007 caucus-goers giving him 25 percent support. Romney, on the other hand, got 30,015 votes, but the percent was the same – 25. The third position was occupied by Ron Paul with 21 percent support, but he vowed to continue this momentum in New Hampshire. Newt Gingrich scored only 13 percent support because of a series of negative advertising, whereas Texas Governor Rick Perry was placed on the fifth position with 10 percent votes.
Rick Perry seemed very disappointed with the results he obtained at the Iowa caucus. He told reporters that he will return to Texas to see whether there is a “path forward” for him in this political race.
Santorum invested a lot of money for his 100 days retail campaign in the state of Iowa. Despite this, Romney still managed to draw the conservatives’ support because he had many more resources than his opponent.
According to a recent research made by CBS News, Santorum’s voters were looking for a conservative candidate, whereas those who supported Romney were looking for a candidate who can defeat Obama. Judging by the results of the caucus, Americans in Iowa are not satisfied with their present political leader.
