Romney wins Iowa by 8 votes

Last updated on: January 4, 2012 at 4:10 pm by Gene Veith

Rick Santorum surged into a virtual tie with Mitt Romney in the Iowa caucus votes, the difference being a mere 8 votes. Ron Paul came in third. Here are the results, with the raw numbers and the percentages:

Mitt Romney      30,015    24.6%

Rick Santorum   30,007     24.5%

Ron Paul             26,219       21.4%

Newt Gingrich   16,251        13.3%

Rick Perry           12,604       10.3%

Michele Bachmann 6,073     5.0%

Jon Huntsman           745       0.6%

Others                          341    0.3%

via Iowa Caucus results, visits and political geography – 2012 Campaign Republican Primary Tracker – The Washington Post.

I’d like to credit my “What’s Wrong with Santorum?” post for turning the tide to him. (The post was linked to a lot and picked up by a Christian news aggregator.) [I don’t seriously think that. It was obvious for social conservatives to finally consider the last man standing. And if anyone read the comments, they would see that you readers found quite a bit wrong with him.]

But still, does this make Santorum the non-Paul alternative to Mitt Romney?

Paul performed worse than expected. He did, however, win one of the proverbial three tickets out of Iowa.

There was a big gap with the other candidates. How the mighty Newt has fallen! And Perry! And Bachmann, the winner of the Iowa straw poll! If their supporters rally to Santorum, though, the percentages add up dramatically in his favor. Do you think that will happen?

January 4, 2012

A Brief Statement of the Doctrinal Position of the Missouri Synod

January 5, 2012 No more Narnia movies?