The American Tea Man

It was a long day in Iowa, and a long time of waiting for the results to come in.  After keeping ahead of Mitt Romney for majority of the night, Rick Santorum ended up in second with a gap of only 8 votes.  The 8 vote margin is what some people call, a statistical dead heat.

Both of the respective candidates gave their speeches long before the last results were out.  Most likely knowing that it would not end until late in the night.

Rick Santorum went out before Mitt Romney, and thanked his family, his supporters.  Talked about his beliefs and his stances.  Next to him was one of the many people who have endorsed him, Iowa’s secretary of state Matt Schultz.

Mitt Romney went out shortly after Rick Santorum, with his wife and other family members beside him.  He talked President Obama, and different things about himself.  It felt like a very politically driven speech at times.

Romney will tout this victory, but when you look at the results, and watched them come out.  It wasn’t really a victory at all…it was just plain luck.  Especially since Santorum held a lead against Romney almost the entire time that votes were coming in.

When you look at the results, and where Santorum is now, compared to just two to three weeks ago.  It makes his 2nd place finish a surprise victory that not a lot of people saw coming.

Now with the surprise, and a new-found attention given to him by the media, Rick Santorum is off to New Hampshire. He will spend the majority of his time there, much like his ground campaign in Iowa.

It has also shown the Mitt Romney has a lot of competition, and that he will not be able to take the nomination without a fight.

Right now as the candidates move on, Rick Perry has stated that he is going to reassess his campaign after coming in 5th between Newt Gingrich and Michele Bachmann.  If he decides to exit the race, that could help candidates like Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum.

All the rest of the candidates seem set to staying in the race, even though John Huntsman has talked about dropping out if he finished last in Iowa.

Now, it is on to New Hampshire and the rest of the Republican presidential primary.

Related articles

• Romney wins by a whisker in Iowa (newstatesman.com)
• Iowa Poll Shows That Rick Santorum Is Surging (theamericanteaman.com)
• Watch: Rick Santorum’s Wife Breaks Down in Iowa (abcnews.go.com)
• James Moore: The Non-Romney Race in Iowa (huffingtonpost.com)
• Rick Santorum’s Perfect Iowa Timing (usnews.com)
• Mitt Romney Wins Iowa by Tiny Margin (fox4kc.com)
• Mitt Romney “wins” with 8 votes. (iflizwerequeen.com)
• Iowa: Santorum Ahead By Less Than Fifty, Romney 2nd, Paul 3rd (lezgetreal.com)