Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney apparently eked anarrow victory in Tuesday night’s Iowa caucuses, holding off former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum’s late-in-the-game-surge to win the Iowa caucus
After a night of seesawing, the Iowa GOP announced Romney had 30,015 votes, beating Santorum's 30,007 by just 8 votes in the state's caucuses. Ron Paul finished third.
Each of the top two ended almost exactlty tied at 25 percent share of the vote.
The result represented a dramatic closing act by Santorum to cement a furious, last-minute surge during which conservatives rallied around his campaign.
"Game on!" the jubilant ex-senator declared in remarks shortly after midnight.
The results were also humbling to an extent for the Romney campaign, which had appeared so confident in victory that it planned an overnight stay for the candidate in Iowa tonight instead of New Hampshire, where Romney's built a firewall. The former governor had also appeared to predict victory in a Monday night speech.
Texas Rep. Ron Paul finished third, at 21 percent.
Three other candidates, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann had also sought to beat expectations and rejuvenate their candidacies in subsequent primary contests in New Hampshire and South Carolina.
Gingrich had an edge, at 13 percent, over Perry (10 percent) in early returns, while Bachmann lags in sixth, at 5 percent.
Perry said he would take the next few days to re-assess his campaign.
"I've decided to return to Texas, assess the results of tonight's caucus, determine whether there is a path forward for myself in this race," he said in remarks shortly before midnight.
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