Rick Santorum wins Iowa. Rick Perry dropping out of race

[House]

Breaking news!

[House]

Rick Perry ends presidential bid


Texas Gov. Rick Perry is announcing the end of his campaign.

"This campaign has never been about the candidates. I ran for president because I love America," he says. "This mission is greater than any one man."

Updated 11:14 a.m. ET

Perry says: "I never believed the cause of conservatism is embodied by one individuals. ...It's a movement of ideas that are greater than any of us."

Our original post begins here:

Texas Gov. Rick Perry will end his campaign for the GOP nomination, USA TODAY has confirmed.

AP is reporting that Perry will endorse Newt Gingrich at an 11 a.m. ET news conference.

The Texas governor has been lagging in national and South Carolina polls, and has been battling with Gingrich and Rick Santorum for votes among social conservatives and evangelical voters.

A source with direct knowledge of Perry's decision to end his presidential campaign confirmed that news to USA TODAY. The source declined to be identified ahead of Perry's news conference.

Perry's decision comes as a pivotal debate is held tonight in Charleston, just two days before South Carolina voters go to the polls.

Perry, the longest-serving governor in Texas history, entered the race last August and immediately changed the dynamic. He eclipsed Michele Bachmann, just as she won the Iowa straw poll.

Perry quickly soared to the top of national and early state polls, but he started to flag. Mitt Romney challenged him on illegal immigration, criticizing Perry's decision to sign a law that gives some children of illegal immigrants in-state tuition at Texas colleges. Bachmann criticized Perry for his executive order mandating the HPV vaccine for young girls.

On top of those policy challenges, Perry faltered in nationally televised debates. His gaffe at a debate in Michigan, in which he could not remember the name of the third federal agency he'd like to cut, left an indelible mark.

http://content.usatoday.com/communit...-/1?csp=34news

[House]

Santorum finished 34 votes ahead of Romney in new Iowa tally; votes from 8 precincts missing

By Debbi Wilgoren and Philip Rucker, Updated: Thursday, January 19, 11:17 AM

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum edged Republican front-runner Mitt Romney in the Iowa caucuses by 34 votes, but can’t be declared the winner because results from eight precincts are missing, officials said Thursday.

Romney was eight votes ahead of Santorum in the preliminary results of the Jan. 3 caucuses--the much-watched, first-in-the-nation presidential nomination contest.

But when the certified tallies were submitted to state GOP officials Wednesday, they showed Romney trailing, 29,839 votes to 29,805.

“Certified vote totals were unavailable for eight of Iowa’s 1,774 precincts,” the state Republican party said in a statement. No explanation was provided as to why the vote tallies from those precincts were missing.

The official results for the remaining precincts were announced at 9:15 Eastern time Thursday, two days before the South Carolina primary and less than two hours before Texas Gov. Rick Perry, another GOP hopeful, dropped out of the race and endorsed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Because Iowa delegates are not allocated or bound by caucus results, or awarded only to the winning candidate, Santorum’s apparent victory will have little impact on his uphill battle to win the nomination. About 122,000 votes were cast during the Iowa caucuses, meaning that the margin of victory — regardless of who won — was only a fraction of a percent.

But the new results--first reported before dawn Thursday by the Des Moines Register-- mean Romney can no longer claim to be the only non-incumbent GOP candidate since 1976 to win both the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary.

And the revelation that eight precincts did not report certified tallies, even though the race was so close, will likely stir new questions about Iowa’s idiosyncratic, but historically cherished, caucus process.

“The narrative that Governor Romney and the media have been touting of ‘inevitability’ has been destroyed,” Santorum communications director Hogan Gidley said in a statement, which was sent to reporters with the headline, in all capital letters, “Santorum wins Iowa.”

“Conservatives can now see and believe they don’t have to settle for Romney, the Establishment’s moderate candidate,” Gidley said. “There is a consistent conservative alternative . . . That candidate is Rick Santorum.”

Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn, in his own statement, congratulated both Santorum and Romney “on a hard-fought effort during the closest contest in caucus history.” But he did not declare Santorum the winner.

“Our goal throughout the certification process was to most accurately reflect and report how Iowans voted the evening of January 3,” Strawn said. “We understand the importance to the candidates involved, but as Iowans, we understand the responsibility we have as temporary caretakers of the Iowa caucuses.””

Romney was labeled the winner in news reports around the world after the caucuses, which helped him build upon his already sizeable lead in money, endorsements and campaign organization. His strong showing was especially meaningful because he had lost badly in Iowa in 2008. And his victory a week later in New Hampshire added to his momentum.

“The results from Iowa caucus night revealed a virtual tie,” Romney said in a statement Thursday. “. . .We once again recognize Rick Santorum for his strong performance in the state.”

Analysts said it was not clear that a change in the official vote count would provide a boost to Santorum, who is battling with Gingrich to capture enough of the conservative vote in Saturday’s South Carolina primary to disrupt Romney’s momentum. Although Romney’s lead in South Carolina has shrunk somewhat in recent days, according to the latest polls, it is Gingrich, rather than Santorum, who appears to be closing in.

But Santorum had been hinting to crowds in South Carolina for days that the Iowa vote tally might change, and predicting that a shift could “change the complexion of this race.”

At a barbecue joint in Spartanburg on Wednesday, Santorum criticized the Iowa GOP for declaring Romney the winner in the hours after the caucuses, even though the vote was very close. “Little minor technical differences can make a difference between who wins and loses,” Santorum said. “To suggest that this race was decided, and that isn’t going to change, is wrong.”

The Register, citing unnamed officials in the Iowa GOP, reported that the certification process showed inaccuracies in 131 other precincts, including one precinct where the corrected tally shifted 50 votes from Santorum to Romney. The changes were reported in the final days and hours before Wednesday’s 5 p.m. deadline for certifying the vote.

“On Tuesday night, Romney was up 24 votes. Then at noon Wednesday, Santorum was up by only three votes. The six precincts that happened to come in next boosted Santorum to a 34-vote lead,” the newspaper said.

Asked who actually won the caucus, Iowa GOP executive director Chad Olsen told the Register: “It’s a split decision.”

Staff writer Rosalind S. Helderman contributed to this report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...RAQ_story.html

[The Good Reverend Rollo Goodlove]

Must suck to be a republican right now. Their candidates are all shit. The only halfway respectable one, Romney, turns off more that half of their base because he is Mormon (magic underwear? really??) or because he is the political equivalent of a weathervane. Lol.

[MarkK]

Must suck to be a republican right now. Their candidates are all shit. The only halfway respectable one, Romney, turns off more that half of their base because he is Mormon (magic underwear? really??) or because he is the political equivalent of a weathervane. Lol.

I love how they are gonna be stuck with Mitt. For evangelicals, Mormonism is the anti-Christ, really 'worse' than Islam. Apparently Mitt also has tons of assets offshore in the Caymans, let's wait until that tax return comes out.

Its strange how they are politically pretty damn smart at the Congressional level, but can't field a decent Presidential candidate.

[Pete_ is_ niccce]

Tax return not coming out, plus all that offshore accounts are properly shady too

[Sal Paradise]

We have to keep these fuckers out for all kinds of reasons but charging with our head down into a war with Iran is shaping up to be one of the primary concerns. Which is messed up because we have so many domestic problems that need focus.*

[Moksha]

Will be interesting to see how proactive Perry is in supporting Newt. Could his support be a turning point for Newt in Southern states that are not so keen on a Mormon Massachusetts Moderate?

[TAB.]

Will be interesting to see how proactive Perry is in supporting Newt. Could his support be a turning point for Newt in Southern states that are not so keen on a Mormon Massachusetts Moderate?

They'll hold their nose, heading to the polls for Mitt, like they did with McCain.