Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney win Iowa caucus

Fun­da­men­tal­ist Rick San­to­rum (a for­mer U.S. Sen­a­tor) and Repub­li­can estab­lish­ment favorite Mitt Rom­ney (a for­mer gov­er­nor) have pre­vailed in the first nom­i­nat­ing con­test of 2012, results released by the Iowa Repub­li­can Par­ty show. With 99% of the vote count­ed, Rom­ney and San­to­rum were almost exact­ly tied, sep­a­rat­ed by only a hand­ful of votes, while Ron Paul trailed in third place.

Michelle Bach­mann brought up the rear, fin­ish­ing last with 5% of the vote, behind Rick Per­ry and Newt Gin­grich, who received 10.3% and 13.3%, respec­tive­ly. A few cau­cus­go­ers vot­ed for Her­man Cain and Jon Hunts­man, but Cain has left the race and Hunts­man opt­ed not to cam­paign in Iowa at all.

As of 10 PM Pacif­ic Time, here were the results:

1. Rick San­to­rum: 29,908 votes/24.6%
2. Mitt Rom­ney: 29,874 votes/24.5%
3. Ron Paul: 26,097 /21.4%
4. Newt Gin­grich: 16,161/13.3%
5. Rick Per­ry: 12,536/10.3%
6. Michele Bach­mann: 6,056/5.0%

Rom­ney and San­to­rum have been trad­ing the lead for much of the night, but nei­ther has been able to pull away from the oth­er. With near­ly all of the votes count­ed, the cau­cus looks like it will end in a draw… an out­come that boosts both can­di­dates, but par­tic­u­lar­ly San­to­rum, who has far less mon­ey and noto­ri­ety than his rivals. San­to­rum is wast­ing no time in leav­ing for New Hamp­shire; he has at least one town hall planned for each of the next few days, sand­wiched between media inter­views and pri­vate fundrais­ing events.

Rick Per­ry, mean­while, said he would return to Texas to assess his next steps.

Ron Paul, not sur­pris­ing­ly, vowed that his cam­paign would con­tin­ue, and sug­gest­ed that San­to­rum’s momen­tum would dis­ap­pear, mak­ing the Repub­li­can nom­i­nat­ing fight a con­test between him­self and Mitt Rom­ney. Here’s what his nation­al cam­paign chair­man (Jesse Ben­ton) had to say about the Iowa cau­cus results:

The Ron Paul cam­paign is cel­e­brat­ing a great vic­to­ry tonight.

There were three tick­ets out of Iowa, and Ron Paul earned one of them.

One of the three tick­ets, the one belong­ing to Rick San­to­rum, is a dead-end due to Santorum’s weak fundrais­ing and lack of nation­al cam­paign organization.

This is now a two way race between estab­lish­ment can­di­date Mitt Rom­ney and the can­di­date for real change, Ron Paul.

Ron Paul has a top notch nation­al orga­ni­za­tion, tremen­dous fundrais­ing prowess, and unequaled enthu­si­asm among his vol­un­teers and supporters.

Dr. Paul has tak­en the first step towards earn­ing the del­e­gates it will take to be the GOP nom­i­nee and is the only can­di­date not named Mitt Rom­ney with the abil­i­ty to do so.

Ron Paul is now off to New Hamp­shire, South Car­oli­na, Louisiana, Neva­da, Maine, North Dako­ta, Wash­ing­ton, Col­orado, and beyond.

See you on the cam­paign trail.

The next nom­i­nat­ing con­test will take place in one week, in New Hamp­shire. The Gran­ite State’s pri­ma­ry will then be fol­lowed by South Car­oli­na’s on Sat­ur­day, Jan­u­ary 21st, and Flori­da’s, on Tues­day, Jan­u­ary 31st.