The Republican presidential primaries in Iowa were, as always, very important to the race. Romney, as the polls predicted, finished first, with Rick Santorum a very close second, though a later vote recount gave Santorum the win. Ron Paul finished third, with Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, and Newt Gingrich trailing behind. The almost tie between Santorum and Romney was the third-closest race in US history; Romney was initially declared the winner by a purported 8 votes (http://caucuses.desmoinesregister.com/). Throughout the race, Romney’s numbers have been relatively steadily high, in contrast to his opponents who have bounced up and down in the polls.
The polls began at 7 PM in 809 locations in Iowa on January 3rd, 2012. All of the Republican candidates have been competing for the lead in Iowa for months; winning the Iowa caucus can propel a candidacy through the tough contests in the rest of January and send a good deal of money, media recognition, and support to a winning candidate. The only candidate who has not focused primarily on Iowa is Jon Huntsman, the former US ambassador to China, who has been focusing on the upcoming New Hampshire primary.
During the aftermath of the caucuses, Michele Bachmann decided to withdraw her candidacy. She claimed that she would, however, “continue to fight to defeat the president’s agenda of socialism.” (http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/bachmann_expected_to_suspend_presidential_9VBt1mAFMtdPnn9DQOBkLI). Representative Bachmann, Texas Governor Rick Perry, and Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich had all been running as potential, more conservative, alternatives to Romney. Bachmann, the founder of the Tea Party Caucus in Congress, received merely 5% of the vote in her birthplace, Iowa. After initially declaring that she would continue her campaign, she withdrew her candidacy. Rick Perry claimed that he would reevaluate his campaign, which decreased the field of serious Republican candidates in 2012 to the top four finishers in Iowa: Santorum, Paul, Romney, and Gingrich.
President Obama, who is not expected to be seriously challenged for the 2012 Democratic nomination, responded to the Republican Iowa caucuses in a teleconference with the Democratic Iowa caucus sites in which he talked about his successes as president. He noted the end of the War in Iraq, lowering the price of going to college, and health care reform as some of his achievements as president. He claimed that he wants to remind the American people of how far the US has come under his presidency, but unemployment rates and a still somewhat stagnant economy may give his opposition some grounds for criticism.
The Republican field is not clear yet, however; all of the candidates are criticizing each other in attempts to gain support. Rick Perry, although he placed fifth in the Iowa caucuses, criticized Santorum’s second place finish as not representative of his nationwide campaign. Newt Gingrich has recently criticized Romney as a liar and as the perpetrator of several anti-Gingrich ads produced by a political action committee. Before the ads, several impressive debate performances gave Gingrich a place at the top of the field. Ron Paul’s campaign has also funded attack ads against a frontrunner; his anti-Romney ads attack the former Massachusetts governor as a closet liberal and supporter of big government (http://articles.cnn.com/2012-01-03/politics/politics_iowa-caucus_1_iowa-caucus-results-romney-and-santorum-entrance-polls?_s=PM:POLITICS). The Republican primary in South Carolina soon is expected to weed out many of the candidates.