Iowa Caucus Shocker: Rick Santorum Declared Winner By 34 Votes

[DeathToTheOil]

The Des Moines Register released a bit of a bombshell Thursday morning, with a report that, when the votes are all certified at 9:15 a.m. Thursday morning, Rick Santorum — not Mitt Romney — will be declared the Iowa Caucus winner, by 34 votes.

“It’s a tie for the ages,” Jennifer Jacobs of the Register writes. She uses the term “tie” because eight polling locations will be given an “incomplete” for not turning in their Form E, which makes their count official (reading her article paints a portrait of total chaos and rule-breaking throughout the caucuses). For all intents and purposes, however, Santorum will be declared the victor.

The new final totals:

Rick Santorum: 29,839 Change: -168
Mitt Romney: 29,805 Change: -210

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/iowa-caucus-shocker-rick-santorum-declared-winner-by-34-votes/

So, Mighty Mitt has won in his other home state, and that's it. Limp on, Willard, limp on!

[Botany]

1. I always wondered about Iowa when I saw reports that Rove said on election night;

"That some undervote will be found that will put Romney over the top." (rough quote)

Now will Mr. Frothy ask Newt to drop out?

[LiberalFighter]

31. Makes me wonder if we can trust results from Iowa in November.

[Critters2]

44. Caucus numbers are tabulated by the party, not county clerks.

Again, and I know this is hard for people in non-caucus states, the caucus is a meeting of the party at the precinct level, not a public vote. There are no voting booths, no election judges, none of the things that will happen in a general. General elections use electronic machines (which may be a problem, but a wholly unrelated one). Caucuses are precinct committee members counting handwritten paper ballots. In the Dem caucuses, they just vote by show of hands.

[47of74]

48. As a native and resident of Iowa, allow me to say...

[JoePhilly]

2. So much for being the first GOP non-incumbent candidate to win both Iowa and NH!!

[Uncle Joe]

35. History was unmade.

[Supersedeas]

37. Meeka and Joe Skankborough will have to re-inform their television audience

[The Wielding Truth]

39. Romney LOST in IOWA! He should then lose the nomination. Right?

[Uncle Joe]

40. What came first, Romney as the frontrunner or the corporate media treating him as the frontrunner?

[The Wielding Truth]

51. Yea. They have been prepareing us for a Mormon presidency since last spring.

Remember all the I'm a ____ and I'm a Mormon tv spots.

[Uncle Joe]

52. I haven't seen that but I have seen corporate media language

aimed at the other candidates for "piling on Romney," before and after the debates and I've seen Romney front and center during the debates, not on the edge of the stage with more positive questioning aimed at him and more challenging or (no good answer) questions presented to the others.

Having said that I haven't seen all the debates but of the ones I have seen and general media coverage there is no doubt in my mind who the corporate media prefers.

I believe they prefer Gingrich next, followed by Santorum and Paul last.

[jeanmarc]

3. No 'official' winner

NYT is reporting that the chairman of the Iowa Republican party will announce at 9:15ET that there will not be an official winner declared.

[patricia92243]

4. How is that possible? Somebody has to win. n/t

[bigworld]

5. 'Cos they don't want to run afoul of Mr Moneybags.

If I were a Santorum supporter, I'd be mighty pissed at the Iowa GOP establishment.

[jeanmarc]

10. In Mitt Romney's GOP....

....everyone gets a blue ribbon. Because we can't separate winners and losers. Anyone remember that meme that conservatards like to label us with?

[BobbyBoring]

16. it's 21st-century!

We don't have winners and losers anymore. Someone's feelings could be hurt!

[grantcart]

18. caucuses don't actually select convention delegates, that is done at the state convention.

[Critters2]

45. Exactly. They chose delegates to go to county caucuses, who will choose delegates to the state

convention, who will choose delegates to go to the RNC.

I was once an "undeclared" delegate to the county. Needless to say, when it came down to voting, I declared. Nothing is set in stone at this point.

[Fearless]

46. They're trying to bring people together instead of dividing them...

Picking a winner, either way, will piss off a lot of people, especially because of suspect counting actions.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

21. There has to be a winner. Why? Because they now have to redistribute the delegates according to

who really won. This is horrible news for Mittens!

[ehrnst]

6. Santorum emerges after tight three way? (nt)

[Blue Owl]

36. Turns out he loves being underdog

n/t

[spinbaby]

7. Interesting

Romney by 8 is a "win," but Santorum by 34 is a "tie."

[MaineDem]

14. ^5

Amazing, isn't it?

[yellowcanine]

19. Yeah I noticed that also. And 8 precincts missing. And Republicans blather about election fraud.

Last edited Thu Jan 19, 2012, 11:44 AM - Edit history (1)

Do any of them see the irony? No.

[Shadowflash]

23. Yeah. Noticed that.

Can't have the non-establishment moron winning anything. that would be bad.

So much for the GOP running 'clean and efficient' elections.

[GetRidOfThem]

8. So it's no longer Mitt's landslide, it's Rick's landslide!

[pampango]

9. UK Guardian: Mitt Romney stripped of Iowa win after recount

Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney suffered a setback on Thursday when the party stripped him off his victory in Iowa after a final tally of votes.

His rival, the socially conservative and former senator Rick Santorum, emerged with the most votes, a majority of 34.

The Register said the party was declaring the vote "unresolved" because there are "too many holes" in the certified totals to know the victor for certain, with the results from some precincts missing.

But it means that Romney can no longer claim to be the winner in Iowa. If another of his rivals, Newt Gingrich, wins the South Carolina primary on Saturday, this would mean they basically have one apiece: Romney the New Hampshire primary, held on 10 January, Gingrich South Carolina, and Santorum Iowa from 3 January. The race for the party nomination to take on Barack Obama in November would then be wide open.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/19/mitt-romney-iowa-win-recount?newsfeed=true

[JJW]

11. Sounds like Romney didn't pay enough for a win

Show us your past 5 yrs of tax returns, Willard!

[leftyohiolib]

12. some gop subordinates are stepping out of line

[randome]

38. I think you're right.

And it's yet more evidence that no one is in control of the GOP. They are falling to pieces before our eyes. Ain't it wonderful?

[freshstart]

13. 8 precincts missing...

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-01-19/iowa-caucus-count/52662346/1

[sofa king]

15. It's much more fun to watch them steal from each other.

Seagulls rapacious
They fight over a corndog
They will steal yours, too

[yardwork]

41. Great haiku

[yellowcanine]

17. My Man Ricky Wins Iowa! Now we just need Newt to win SC!

Then each of the 3 stooges would have a win.

[irisblue]

20. love it

soo enjoy it when they fight. perry dropping out, willard losing iowa. showing the semi facist/definate authoritian republican party screwing their elections up so publically. why, it's like a box of high quality nut filled chocolate...so many pieces to make me happy.

[onehandle]

22. Weakens him a little, but he got the 'win' headline.

Nobody reads the body copy but us.

[BumRushDaShow]

26. Except

that all of them are as arrogant as one can be and Santorium will certainly not stand down and let that go (at least yet) if he can get his jollies with a "win". Certainly this would reinvigorate the religious right to tithe to him to go on the offensive.

[JDPriestly]

24. We now know that the Republican insiders want Romney.

The rest is just a show intended to grab the voters' attention.

What a farce. Reminds me of the Democratic primary in 2008.

The powers that be choose and let us think we decide.

[KamaAina]

33. Most of the Dem insiders backed Hillary at first

in 2008.

[Cognitive_Resonance]

25. Looks like it was fixed to avoid derailing Romney. Rick was robbed (poor baby). nt

[Javaman]

27. No, shocker would be for any of the moronic repuke candidates to actually break the 25% ceiling

in a primary.

[rocktivity]

28. Take a bow, Edward True!

...Edward True, a supporter of Paul's, says he participated in the counting at the Washington Wells caucus in Appanoose County and wrote down the results he witnessed there on a piece of paper which he posted to Facebook that night. Later, in comparing his totals to the precinct results made available on the Iowa GOP website...he noticed that Romney is shown as receiving 22 votes at that precinct...(I)t would mean that Santorum will have won the Iowa Caucuses by 12 votes, rather than lost it to Romney by 8, as reported by the GOP in the early morning hours on Wednesday...
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=9044

http://www.facebook.com/trueedward


rocktivity

[caseymoz]

29. Repubs now too dumb to count their own votes?

http://caucuses.desmoinesregister.com/2012/01/19/register-exclusive-2012-gop-caucus-count-unresolved/

What a total cock up! So, it's not just their candidates. This entire party has now gone completely dumb.

It shows that Cain is nothing unusual. These are now the people who run our major businesses, and without their money and authority, they would be unemployable.

Their talk about the stupidity and inefficiency of government has no credibility now.

[RufusTFirefly]

30. Could this be the work of last weekend's evangelical pow-wow?

More than 150 leaders in the conservative evangelical Christian community are getting together Friday and Saturday at a private ranch west of Houston in a last-ditch effort to derail Mitt Romney's march to the Republican nomination.

Source: NPR

[KamaAina]

32. Hanky-panky in a *caucus*. Un-freakin'-believable.

Although, when you think about it, much easier to pull off than in an actual election.

This says a LOT about Willard.

[ChadwickHenryWard]

34. How does this affect the apportionment of delegates at the convention?

[quakerboy]

42. I am torn on this one

On the one hand, its amusing to watch the rabid rats fight over who gets to go up against the fox. And anything that extends the republican primary and gives voters a longer chance to see the faces of craziness that make up the slate of candidates seems like a good thing toward the goal of not allowing a republican to retake the white house.

On the other hand, I hate to see a vote with issues just accepted, for any reason. Its like they are training the populace to just accept when things go fishy. And that scares me.

[TygrBright]

43. Hah! I was right. I SAID he'd come from behind. heheheheh.... n/t

[Hassin Bin Sober]

47. Santorum ALWAYS comes from behind.

[47of74]

49. Yep

[Festivito]

50. BradBlog had it right from the day after the election.

A small county had so few people that the got together and figured out the posted totals were wrong. They had 2 votes for Romney, but the posted results showed 22.

That means that the next day they knew Romney lost by 12, not won by 8.

The guys signed affidavits, BradBlog put those on its web. Big Ed's radio show in Detroit went to music just as he talked about it. Randi Rhodes show had extra music and did not seem to cover it.

It was odd.