Romney narrowly wins Iowa Caucus by 8 votes

Curt Block speaks on behalf of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann at the Mahaska County Secondary Roads Department during the Iowa Caucuses Tuesday night

Des Moines, Iowa- Mitt Romney won the 2012 Iowa Caucus by a matter of 8 votes with final results being presented by Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn.

With 100% of the vote reporting, Romney appears to have garnered 25% of the vote to Santorum’s 25% of the vote. Former Pennsylvania Senator shocked many people by his strong placing in Iowa. Most of Santorum’s support appeared to come from North Central and Northwest Iowa, where Santorum put up double digit wins in many different counties. Delegate wise, Santorum and Romney both tied. Santorum and Romney both got 6 national delegates, while Ron Paul earned 4 delegates. Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry each earned 1 national delegate. Michele Bachmann did not earn any delegates.

Even with the caucuses in full swing, local city governments were hard at work. With such a tight turnout, those votes could have changed the outcome of the vote. (photo/Don Hubbard)

In Mahaka County, Santorum carried Mahaska with 494 votes or 35% of the County vote.  Ron Paul came in second in the county with 241 votes (18%), Perry came in third  with 209 votes (15%), Gingrich came in fourth with 170 votes (13%), Romney came in fifth with 159 votes (12%), Bachmann came in sixth with 138 votes (10%), and Huntsman came in last with 2 votes (<1%).

Once the results were clear for the lower tier candidates, several of them got up to speak to their supporters. Governor Rick Perry of Texas announced to his supporters that he would be going back home to Texas to reassess his current campaign. Perry stopped short of formally withdrawing from the race.

Preliminary results show that turnout in Tuesday’s caucus was at record level. Over 120,000 Iowan’s attended the Republican Caucuses.  The previous record was set in 2008.