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Iowa has spoken

2012 January 05

By Rachel Hartman, Political Courage Test Department 

As expected, the Iowa Caucus, the first nominating contest of the 2012 election season, proved to shake things up inside GOP race. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the candidate who has spent the majority of his campaign in either the one or two spot atop other Republicans in the race, came out ahead of former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum by the narrowest of margins, besting Santorum by only 8 total votes. In the days leading up the the contest, Santorum surged to the forefront of the Iowa race. This surge can likely tip its hat in thanks to the significant campaigning Mr. Santorum poured into the state having spent more days in Iowa than any other candidate and visiting all 99 counties.

While Santorum's “trending” status changes the game in other early primary states, the fight for the top spot among the GOP hopefuls is beginning to narrow its field. Romney, Santorum, and Congressman Ron Paul were the top three in Iowa with all three being separated by only a few percentage points and effectively splitting the delegates between them. Romney secured around 25% of votes a nearly identical number to what he pulled in the 2008 caucus. Paul, however, significantly grew in favor with Iowans since their last caucus meeting gathering 21% of caucus goer's attention this year as compared to the 9% he received in 2008.

Former front-runner Newt Gingrich, while in a more distant forth place, is continuing to push forward with ...

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