Romney Wins Iowa Caucuses - Bachmann Bows Out
Update Jan 19, 2011: Confirmed final results have shifted voted in favor of Rick Santorum. USA Today and other news sources are reporting that Rick Santorum has been certified with a 34-vote lead in the Iowa caucuses. There are even some ballot boxes missing. Note the Iowa Caucus is unofficial, not run by the State of Iowa and not binding on delegates to the National Republican Convention.
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Michelle Bachmann Bows Out of Presidential Bid
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) ended her bid for the Republican presidential nomination after coming in last in the Iowa caucuses. Bachmann finished sixth out of six candidates in the first of many contests to pick a Republican presidential candidate. Bachmann will return to focusing on her Congressional campaign and hopefully will continue to needle President Obama over his unconstitutional actions and his progressive socialistic programs. Thank you, Rep. Backmann for being a torch for the TEA Party. Unfortunately in Iowa, she was confronted with the full force of concern by the Republicans voters who are seeking not necessarily the best conservative but the most likely person(s) who can defeat Barack Obama in November.
For more information and a varying opinion, Read more via the AP which has some commentary that is definitely not what we would report.
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Romney wins Iowa caucuses by eight votes - And a review of last nights performances
By Lynn Campbell, Hannah Hess and Andrew Thomason
IowaPolitics.com - DES MOINES — It was an Iowa caucus night that came down to the wire, with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum running neck-and-neck for first place in the contest for the Republican presidential nomination.
At 1:36 a.m. Wednesday, the Republican Party of Iowa declared Romney the winner by just eight votes over Santorum, the dark-horse candidate who ran his campaign on a shoestring budget. With all of the state's 1,774 precincts reporting, Romney received 30,015 votes to Santorum's 30,007. Percentage-wise, the two tied with 25 percent of the vote.
The virtual tie led both candidates to make their speeches in advance of knowing the final results of the state's first-in-the-nation presidential nominating contest. The photo finish likely will give both Santorum and Romney momentum going into the Jan. 10 New Hampshire primary.
"Game on!" declared Santorum, who was Iowa's most frequent visitor this caucus cycle, spending about 100 days in the state but remaining at the back of the pack until a last-minute surge around Christmas.
"Thank you Iowa for the great send-off you're giving to us and the other winners of this campaign," Romney gushed, as he took the stage at Hotel Fort Des Moines to congratulate his Republican competitors and his own campaign. Romney vowed to head to battle in New Hampshire, and to defeat President Barack Obama. in November in what he called an "election about the soul of America."
For Santorum, Tuesday's results were a near repeat of what former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee did four years ago: A social conservative candidate coming from behind to win Iowa's first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses. The crowd at Santorum's party at the Stoney Creek Inn in Johnston grew larger and more enthusiastic as the night drew on. They chanted, "Go, Rick! Go, Rick!!" and "We pick Rick! We pick Rick!" as they saw results coming in on TV. Showing their evangelical side, they also sang "Amazing Grace" and "God Bless America" as they waited.
Evangelical voters were key behind Santorum's success. Santorum was endorsed Dec. 20 by Iowa social conservative leaders Bob Vander Plaats and Chuck Hurley, after a campaign in which such voters were sharply divided on whether to support Santorum, Texas Gov. Rick Perry or Minnesota U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann.
"I kind of believe in what he says, that we shouldn't settle on a candidate," said Jeremy Masterson, 33, of Prairie City, who attended Santorum's post-caucus party. "I believe in his conservative values. That's something we've kind of gotten away from here recently. Plus, the way he did it, the way he started from the ground up in visiting all 99 counties, it really tells me that he supports the people."
But Steve Scheffler, a Republican National Committee member from West Des Moines who's president of the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition, told IowaPolitics.com that he doesn't believe the endorsements were the reason for Santorum's surge. "Even before endorsements, he was coming up in the pack," Scheffler said. "He laid a groundwork a long time ago. At the end of the day, people have a lot of respect for candidates who actually try to come and win their vote."
For Romney, Tuesday's win secures him as a national front-runner heading into the months-long process to secure the Republican nomination for president. "We're going to change the White House and get America back on track," he declared.
Kim Schmett of Clive, a former Polk County Republican chairman and congressional candidate who said he went to see most of this year's GOP presidential candidates 10 to 15 times, said it was Romney's experience as a business leader that made him decide to support Romney a week or two ago. "He has the best chance to win," Schmett said. "There's too much at stake of where our government is headed, to not win this election. His skill set is almost perfectly matched for what our country needs at the moment."
An Iowa win was the outcome that Romney had hoped for in the 2008 campaign, when he spent more than $10 million in Iowa and campaigned in all of the state's 99 counties, only to finish second to Huckabee in the caucuses. That cycle, Romney fought for the caucuses with 52 full-time staffers, but this time, he had only five, he told the crowd of 200 supporters who were invited to join his victory celebration.
Romney only spent about 20 days in Iowa during the 2012 caucus campaign and much less money, although his spending was boosted by the super PAC, Restore Our Future, which ran TV ads attacking former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia. Combined, Romney and his super PAC spent more than $1.5 million on 2,246 ad spots in the Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Quad-Cities markets, according to an analysis by IowaPolitics.com.
"Many of Romney's critics lambaste him for not paying enough attention to Iowa, not enough days visiting here in the last year," said former Iowa House Speaker Chris Rants, R-Sioux City. "But tonight Romney will see the fruits of the labor he put in four years ago." Rants, a former senior adviser to Michigan U.S. Rep. Thad McCotter who last year briefly sought the GOP nomination for president, said Republicans want a candidate they trust. But he said even more so then four years ago, they also want a candidate who can win.
Texas U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, who was considered a contender to win, on Tuesday translated his loyal base of supporters and large, enthusiastic crowds into a strong third-place finish with 21 percent of the vote. "It may make people take him more seriously on a national stage," said Dianne Bystrom, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University. "It will give him a boost, keep him in the campaign longer. I don't think he'll end up being the national nominee. He's the ultimate anti-government candidate."
Paul, who had attracted large crowds throughout the campaign, on Tuesday night addressed a crowd of several hundred supports, many of them young, at the Courtyard Marriott hotel in Ankeny shortly after learning that he came in third in the caucus. The Texas congressman said even though he brought home the bronze medal, his campaign pillar of very limited government won.
"Those are the issues that we have brought front and center," Paul said. "They're out there. They're not going away." Paul's promise to cut whole federal government departments and end the war in Afghanistan are why Joe Stevens voted for Paul Tuesday. "He's got a plan to balance the budget, to cut spending," Stevens said. "I think those are key." Paul promised the roaring crowd that he will keep up his campaign.
"I think there's nothing to be ashamed of, everything to be satisfied (with), and be ready and raring to move on, on to the next stop," he said.
The Texas congressman had long complained that the media wasn't giving him the attention he was due, despite a close second-place finish in the Aug. 13 Ames Straw Poll, steadily growing public support in opinion polls and crowds as large as 1,000 that turned out to see him, especially on college campuses.
Many doubt whether Paul, who previously ran for president as a libertarian in 1988 and as a Republican in 2008, can go on to secure the Republican nomination for president. Fellow Republicans have been critical of his advocacy for ending all wars and bringing U.S. troops home.
Yet political analysts pointed out that while the caucus campaign has featured a "flavor of the month" . . . support for Romney and Paul have remained steady at 20 percent or higher.
Since 1972, no candidate that has finished worse than third in Iowa has gone on to win a major party presidential nomination. The 2000 Iowa winners, Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush, and the 2004 Iowa winners, Democrat John Kerry and incumbent Bush, won their party's nominations.
Other results of Tuesday night:
Gingrich finished fourth in the Iowa caucuses with 13 percent of the vote. "There will be a great debate in the Republican Party before we are ready to have a great debate with (President) Barack Obama," Gingrich said, while promising to press onward. He praised and congratulated Santorum for running a "positive" campaign and warned voters not to nominate Paul because of his "dangerous" foreign policy views.
Perry will return home to reassess his campaign after a disappointing fifth-place caucus finish, he announced Tuesday night. "I've decided to return to Texas, assess the results of tonight's caucus and determine whether there is a path forward in this race," Perry told supporters at his campaign's vote night headquarters.
Bachmann conceded a sixth place finish with 5 percent of the vote late Tuesday night, but sounded optimistic about the future of her campaign. She referred to her first-place Ames Straw Poll win in August and thanked the people of Iowa for "launching us on the path to victory."
The 2012 Iowa caucus campaign featured wild fluctuations in front-runners. More than 40 percent of likely Iowa Republican caucus goers were undecided in the past week, saying they could change their minds about whom to support, according to a recent poll.
A few weeks ago, Santorum was at the back of the pack. But five polls released during the past week showed Santorum surging. He first appeared in polls in third place behind Romney and Paul. The latest polls showed him moving ahead of Paul in the final days before the caucuses.
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad told IowaPolitics.com that he knew Santorum would do better than expected because he spent more than 100 days campaigning here and visited all 99 of Iowa's counties. Other political insiders and analysts warned in the weeks leading up to Tuesday's caucuses that Santorum could pull off a caucus-night surprise.
Santorum continued campaigning until the last minute. He visited four caucus sites Tuesday night in Johnston, Clive and West Des Moines before heading to his post-caucus party.
Map of the caucus results:
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IowaPolitics.com is a project under the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to promoting new media journalism and government transparency and accountability.
Tags: Iowa Caucus, Michelle Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorium To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
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Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) ended her bid for the Republican presidential nomination after coming in last in the Iowa caucuses. Bachmann finished sixth out of six candidates in the first of many contests to pick a Republican presidential candidate. Bachmann will return to focusing on her Congressional campaign and hopefully will continue to needle President Obama over his unconstitutional actions and his progressive socialistic programs. Thank you, Rep. Backmann for being a torch for the TEA Party. Unfortunately in Iowa, she was confronted with the full force of concern by the Republicans voters who are seeking not necessarily the best conservative but the most likely person(s) who can defeat Barack Obama in November.
For more information and a varying opinion, Read more via the AP which has some commentary that is definitely not what we would report.
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Romney wins Iowa caucuses by eight votes - And a review of last nights performances
By Lynn Campbell, Hannah Hess and Andrew Thomason
IowaPolitics.com - DES MOINES — It was an Iowa caucus night that came down to the wire, with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum running neck-and-neck for first place in the contest for the Republican presidential nomination.
At 1:36 a.m. Wednesday, the Republican Party of Iowa declared Romney the winner by just eight votes over Santorum, the dark-horse candidate who ran his campaign on a shoestring budget. With all of the state's 1,774 precincts reporting, Romney received 30,015 votes to Santorum's 30,007. Percentage-wise, the two tied with 25 percent of the vote.
The virtual tie led both candidates to make their speeches in advance of knowing the final results of the state's first-in-the-nation presidential nominating contest. The photo finish likely will give both Santorum and Romney momentum going into the Jan. 10 New Hampshire primary.
"Game on!" declared Santorum, who was Iowa's most frequent visitor this caucus cycle, spending about 100 days in the state but remaining at the back of the pack until a last-minute surge around Christmas.
"Thank you Iowa for the great send-off you're giving to us and the other winners of this campaign," Romney gushed, as he took the stage at Hotel Fort Des Moines to congratulate his Republican competitors and his own campaign. Romney vowed to head to battle in New Hampshire, and to defeat President Barack Obama. in November in what he called an "election about the soul of America."
For Santorum, Tuesday's results were a near repeat of what former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee did four years ago: A social conservative candidate coming from behind to win Iowa's first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses. The crowd at Santorum's party at the Stoney Creek Inn in Johnston grew larger and more enthusiastic as the night drew on. They chanted, "Go, Rick! Go, Rick!!" and "We pick Rick! We pick Rick!" as they saw results coming in on TV. Showing their evangelical side, they also sang "Amazing Grace" and "God Bless America" as they waited.
Evangelical voters were key behind Santorum's success. Santorum was endorsed Dec. 20 by Iowa social conservative leaders Bob Vander Plaats and Chuck Hurley, after a campaign in which such voters were sharply divided on whether to support Santorum, Texas Gov. Rick Perry or Minnesota U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann.
"I kind of believe in what he says, that we shouldn't settle on a candidate," said Jeremy Masterson, 33, of Prairie City, who attended Santorum's post-caucus party. "I believe in his conservative values. That's something we've kind of gotten away from here recently. Plus, the way he did it, the way he started from the ground up in visiting all 99 counties, it really tells me that he supports the people."
But Steve Scheffler, a Republican National Committee member from West Des Moines who's president of the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition, told IowaPolitics.com that he doesn't believe the endorsements were the reason for Santorum's surge. "Even before endorsements, he was coming up in the pack," Scheffler said. "He laid a groundwork a long time ago. At the end of the day, people have a lot of respect for candidates who actually try to come and win their vote."
For Romney, Tuesday's win secures him as a national front-runner heading into the months-long process to secure the Republican nomination for president. "We're going to change the White House and get America back on track," he declared.
Kim Schmett of Clive, a former Polk County Republican chairman and congressional candidate who said he went to see most of this year's GOP presidential candidates 10 to 15 times, said it was Romney's experience as a business leader that made him decide to support Romney a week or two ago. "He has the best chance to win," Schmett said. "There's too much at stake of where our government is headed, to not win this election. His skill set is almost perfectly matched for what our country needs at the moment."
An Iowa win was the outcome that Romney had hoped for in the 2008 campaign, when he spent more than $10 million in Iowa and campaigned in all of the state's 99 counties, only to finish second to Huckabee in the caucuses. That cycle, Romney fought for the caucuses with 52 full-time staffers, but this time, he had only five, he told the crowd of 200 supporters who were invited to join his victory celebration.
Romney only spent about 20 days in Iowa during the 2012 caucus campaign and much less money, although his spending was boosted by the super PAC, Restore Our Future, which ran TV ads attacking former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia. Combined, Romney and his super PAC spent more than $1.5 million on 2,246 ad spots in the Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Quad-Cities markets, according to an analysis by IowaPolitics.com.
"Many of Romney's critics lambaste him for not paying enough attention to Iowa, not enough days visiting here in the last year," said former Iowa House Speaker Chris Rants, R-Sioux City. "But tonight Romney will see the fruits of the labor he put in four years ago." Rants, a former senior adviser to Michigan U.S. Rep. Thad McCotter who last year briefly sought the GOP nomination for president, said Republicans want a candidate they trust. But he said even more so then four years ago, they also want a candidate who can win.
Texas U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, who was considered a contender to win, on Tuesday translated his loyal base of supporters and large, enthusiastic crowds into a strong third-place finish with 21 percent of the vote. "It may make people take him more seriously on a national stage," said Dianne Bystrom, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University. "It will give him a boost, keep him in the campaign longer. I don't think he'll end up being the national nominee. He's the ultimate anti-government candidate."
Paul, who had attracted large crowds throughout the campaign, on Tuesday night addressed a crowd of several hundred supports, many of them young, at the Courtyard Marriott hotel in Ankeny shortly after learning that he came in third in the caucus. The Texas congressman said even though he brought home the bronze medal, his campaign pillar of very limited government won.
"Those are the issues that we have brought front and center," Paul said. "They're out there. They're not going away." Paul's promise to cut whole federal government departments and end the war in Afghanistan are why Joe Stevens voted for Paul Tuesday. "He's got a plan to balance the budget, to cut spending," Stevens said. "I think those are key." Paul promised the roaring crowd that he will keep up his campaign.
"I think there's nothing to be ashamed of, everything to be satisfied (with), and be ready and raring to move on, on to the next stop," he said.
The Texas congressman had long complained that the media wasn't giving him the attention he was due, despite a close second-place finish in the Aug. 13 Ames Straw Poll, steadily growing public support in opinion polls and crowds as large as 1,000 that turned out to see him, especially on college campuses.
Many doubt whether Paul, who previously ran for president as a libertarian in 1988 and as a Republican in 2008, can go on to secure the Republican nomination for president. Fellow Republicans have been critical of his advocacy for ending all wars and bringing U.S. troops home.
Yet political analysts pointed out that while the caucus campaign has featured a "flavor of the month" . . . support for Romney and Paul have remained steady at 20 percent or higher.
Since 1972, no candidate that has finished worse than third in Iowa has gone on to win a major party presidential nomination. The 2000 Iowa winners, Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush, and the 2004 Iowa winners, Democrat John Kerry and incumbent Bush, won their party's nominations.
Other results of Tuesday night:
Gingrich finished fourth in the Iowa caucuses with 13 percent of the vote. "There will be a great debate in the Republican Party before we are ready to have a great debate with (President) Barack Obama," Gingrich said, while promising to press onward. He praised and congratulated Santorum for running a "positive" campaign and warned voters not to nominate Paul because of his "dangerous" foreign policy views.
Perry will return home to reassess his campaign after a disappointing fifth-place caucus finish, he announced Tuesday night. "I've decided to return to Texas, assess the results of tonight's caucus and determine whether there is a path forward in this race," Perry told supporters at his campaign's vote night headquarters.
Bachmann conceded a sixth place finish with 5 percent of the vote late Tuesday night, but sounded optimistic about the future of her campaign. She referred to her first-place Ames Straw Poll win in August and thanked the people of Iowa for "launching us on the path to victory."
The 2012 Iowa caucus campaign featured wild fluctuations in front-runners. More than 40 percent of likely Iowa Republican caucus goers were undecided in the past week, saying they could change their minds about whom to support, according to a recent poll.
A few weeks ago, Santorum was at the back of the pack. But five polls released during the past week showed Santorum surging. He first appeared in polls in third place behind Romney and Paul. The latest polls showed him moving ahead of Paul in the final days before the caucuses.
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad told IowaPolitics.com that he knew Santorum would do better than expected because he spent more than 100 days campaigning here and visited all 99 of Iowa's counties. Other political insiders and analysts warned in the weeks leading up to Tuesday's caucuses that Santorum could pull off a caucus-night surprise.
Santorum continued campaigning until the last minute. He visited four caucus sites Tuesday night in Johnston, Clive and West Des Moines before heading to his post-caucus party.
Map of the caucus results:
IowaPolitics.com is a project under the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to promoting new media journalism and government transparency and accountability.
Tags: Iowa Caucus, Michelle Bachmann, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorium To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Posted by Bill Smith at 11:32 AM - Post Link
8 Comments:
Is that what other headings look like? rino wins conservative loses?
I haven't talked to a single person who's a supporter of Romney. Not 1.
I know some - many of them based on the idea that it is inevitable
and the idea that he's the only one who can beat BHO.
I have heard those two points made by supporters of Newt, Romney, Paul, and can't say if I remember that said of Cain or not. All of it wanted a fast decision made (like the hard sale by a slick car salesman).
Media and these various groups wanted people to decide and get on board one wagon or another though most of our votes in primaries won't count for anything and we got lots of time to decide if it did - I've seen entire FB groups taken over by Romney, Newt, Paul people and become hostile to any other that used to be great because they pushed the administrators usually to make a fast decision then make it a group rule or get off or stay silent or try to irritate and intimidate, mock, ridicule to force a change of support or something.
Mark Turner appreciate your comments. Your headline would have been interesting. In honesty, I would probably do something like that for a headline about democrats. We all have our bias and mine is supporting the Republic and freedom and liberty.
Wasn't it Newt that said 75% voted against Romney :-)
Then by Newt's same logic, 87% voted against Newt :-)
Sometimes I flip through a paper or even online and just see the headline and based on who wrote it or how much I know about what the article is based on determine pretty quickly if I wanna read or listen. Saw some on Youtube that said so and so destroys so and so and watched it and it was completely reversed! Saw other such Youtubes just like that where the title was just the opposite of what one's eyes and ears saw & heard. lot of posturing and spinning and all these quotes or stories (some of the stories are totally being made up or staged where a poll is staged, all the people participating given a task to put down a certain job title or such so the results show more of certain job represented among those taking that poll or saying those things or giving those contributions. People never hear what really went on. That is fraud and deceit of the worst sort, guess they call it politics so it isn't unChristian or unAmerican but I wouldn't want to be a part of it.
I love marketing and advertising but it is one of the most manipulative though very scientific, cold calculating or politicians polling to decide where they stand or how they'll present something or even what side of an issue they'll take to get a certain age group behind them, etc.
Stayed up late last night to see how GOP fanagled things to get 8 votes so Romney could technically be called the winner. So, think I'll turn in earlier than last!
Sleep well, Obviously I was up but this is when I do a lot of my work. in closing for now, I believe it would have been politically better for Romney of Santorum had won by 8 votes. Would have moved the bull's eye more on his opponent. Romney has the war chest to carry on. Politics is lethal, Huckabee won Iowa and was destroyed three sates later in South Carolina.
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