WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The race for the White House began in earnest on Tuesday for the Republican Party with the Iowa caucus, and Mitt Romney emerged as the winner of the opening round - barely.
In their bid to unseat President Barack Obama, the Republican field of seven candidates squared off in the first official contest, and the final outcome remained very much in doubt until almost the entire vote was tallied and reported at 2:30 a.m. on the east coast.
In a result that was anything but decisive, the former Massachusetts governor Romney rallied to edge former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum by 14 votes, according to CNN, in the closest Iowa caucus in history.
Both candidates finished with 25 percent of the vote and said they were pleased with the outcome.
The result validated the campaign of Santorum, who had trailed the leaders by a wide margin in the summer and fall, but had gained ground recently in the war of attrition with the other candidates.
And Romney saw a steady finish, despite spending little in the way of time or money in the state until very recently. He did, however, continue to struggle to draw conservatives.
Texas congressman Ron Paul finished third with 21 percent, followed by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich in fourth with 13 percent, Texas governor Rick Perry in fifth with 10 percent, Minnesota rep Michele Bachmann in sixth with 5 percent and former Utah governor Jon Huntsman in seventh with 1 percent.
Perry, in his post-caucus speech, told his supporters that he was going home to Texas to re-assess his campaign. Perry led the polls in August but quickly stumbled to second-tier candidate status after some sub-par debate performances and other gaffes.
Next up is the New Hampshire primary on January 10, with Romney being the heavy favorite.
In 2008, the Iowa caucus was prophetic on a national scale for the Democrats, but less so for the Republicans.
Obama was the winner for the Democrats in 2008, claiming 37.6 percent of the vote. John Edwards was second at 29.7 percent and Hillary Rodham Clinton was third at 29.5 percent.
For the Republicans, the winner was Mike Huckabee with 34.4 percent - thanks largely to the so-called evangelical vote. Romney was second with 25.2 percent, followed by Fred Thompson at 13.4 percent, eventual GOP presidential candidate John McCain at 13.1 percent and Paul at 10.0 percent.
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