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Iowa Caucus Shocker: Rick Santorum Declared Winner By 34 Votes

» 49 comments

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 Romneywill 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

According to the Register:

GOP officials discovered inaccuracies in 131 precincts, although not all the changes affected the two leaders. Changes in one precinct alone shifted the vote by 50 — a margin greater than the certified tally.

CNN’s Early Start dug in once the news broke, dedicating most of the show to covering the breaking news, and bringing on a cast of political analysts and reporters to dissect it. Paul Steinhauser out it in the best perspective, positing that:

“If I were Rick Santorum’s campaign, I would be yelling and screaming about this. I would be talking about this non-stop today, I would be talking about it tonight at our debate.”

Early Start co-host Zoraida Sambolin asked how crazy it is to declare a new winner.

“It’s very crazy,” Steinhauser replied. “If I were the Iowa GOP, I’d [have] a little egg on [my] face.” He added that, “I guess this is a little embarrassing for them.”

Candy Crowley joined the show in a later segment and said that, while this does destroy Romney’s claim to have set historical precedent by possibly winning the first three primaries, this may not do much to change the minds of voters. “I’m not sure what this would have changed, or does change,” Crowley said. “I think in the end, what we have is an asterisk.”

In a fun twist, the Register story also revealed that Donald Trump received five votes, Condoleezza Rice received two, and Ralph Nader received one.

Watch Early Start break the news of Santorum’s victory below, courtesy of CNN:

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  • Anonymous

    And yet this doesn’t increase the chances of a President Santorum even minimally.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jeffrey-Edelman/1051570527 Jeffrey Edelman

    The GOP is abso

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    Congratulations, Rick. You scare the beejeebers out of me, but it’s nice to see Willard’s arrogance shot down.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1190134026 Barry Dalton

    This news could change everything. Not for Santorum but for Gingrich.

    No longer will Romney be a historical figure as he proclaimed himself a few weeks ago, leaving Gingrich as the only man of eternal historical importance left in the race.

    The guiness book of world records currently lists Gingrich’s ego as the largest in the Western world.

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    Good analysis.

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    I would like to think that would be the impact, but I somehow doubt it will be. Willard, for whom an eight (8) vote “victory” was huge news is already dismissing the flip in results. Can you imagine if this were a general election? The Republicans would be talking about ACORN, the non-existent NBPP, illegal immigrants voting and the like. But, this will just be an honest mistake. The sort of mistakes so very common in Republican-dominated states like Texas and Alabama.

  • Pablo

    Right. Whereas when a trunkful of Democrat votes shows up in, say, Minnesota, the Dems will just say you should shut up and not even think about disenfranchising those newfound voters.

  • Gloves Martin Donahue

    Repercussions unlikely. But the Dems are scrambling the heavyweights ( Jay Carney, Donny Deutsch, Joy Behar and Little Debbie Schultz)  to officially snicker about this on TV.

  • Anonymous

    Why is this shocking?  It’s Iowa.  And it doesn’t matter.  Santorum has no chance of becoming the nominee.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Politics-culture-Reasoned-America/100001284363960 Politics-culture Reasoned Amer

    I’m reading a lot of smear & fear, but the truth is that ACORN has been either indicted, convicted or under investigation for voter fraud in narly 1/2 the states!

    Couple that with the cadre of Democrats (only!) arrested for ballot-stuffing in upstate NY, and the fact Obama’s DOJ along with the ACLU are doing everything in their power to stop voter ID legislation; and yes, there’s ample reason to presume Democrats will attempt FRAUD in this year’s election.

    Remember, Democrats are the overwhelimng recipients of generational dependency through welfare handouts of OTHER PEOPLE’S MONEY!

    I believe the pejorative commonly used is “welfare whore”, “fatherless baby-breeders”…or just simply, DEMOCRAT!

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    I agree. It all makes Willard’s crowing look silly. It diminishes the inevitability argument. It makes the pundits look a bit foolish. No big repercussions, but fun and snicker-worthy.

  • Anonymous

    I can’t wait to see ole Ricky brag about this tonight at the debate. Maybe Newt as well will provide some insight about his ex-wifes interview. And we all know that Perry will once again stick the proverbial foot in his mouh, Should make for an interesting night of TV.

  • Anonymous

    It’s a snicker-worthy event. 

  • Anonymous

    It’s better for Romney not to win Iowa.

  • Gloves Martin Donahue

     Interviewing ex-wives now?

    This is why Mickey Rooney never ran for office.

  • Gloves Martin Donahue

    Also, votewise, he may have come up short.

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    Then, you are an exceedingly poor reader. I am merely pointing out that those casting stones next door ought to be prepared for return fire.

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    My dear Paulie:

    “But as MinnPost’s David Brauer reported yesterday: the story of the 32 absentee ballots is flat wrong.
    He called up Minneapolis election director Cindy Reichert to get the
    facts. She (Pawlenty during two Fox appearances in as many days called
    her “he”) attests the car-ballot story is “just not true”: She never had
    the ballots in her car — nor were they in anyone’s car for
    several days — and they were kept in secure facilities between election
    day and vote counting. It was Coleman’s attorney, Fritz Knaak, who told
    reporters, “We were actually told ballots had been riding around in her
    car for several days, which raised all kinds of integrity questions.”
    From there, the Wall Street Journal picked up on it
    and reported it as fact; similar to Hannity’s on-screen graphic (shown
    above), the error appeared in a story headlined “Mischief in Minnesota?”
    But according to Brauer, Hannity is wrong on another count: “every one of” those 32 ballots did not go to Franken. Franken won half, 18 16, seven were cast for Coleman, and the remainder went to other candidates.”

    Repeating O’Hannity lies without sourcing them! Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    And, from the Pioneer Press:

    “Meanwhile, the story that
    Reichert had been driving around with the ballots in her trunk spread
    like wildfire, from blogs to Fox News, feeding a suspicion that the fix
    was in for Franken. Reichert learned about it for the first time after
    walking out of Ramsey County court, when a lawyer for the city told her.

    She was upset. Stoked when Gov. Tim Pawlenty mentioned it during a
    news conference, the story called her integrity and her competence into
    question, and it still lingers despite Knaak’s almost immediate
    insistence that there was nothing to it.

    “My mom called and said: ‘Put it on Fox News! They’re going to be
    talking about Minneapolis elections!’ I thought, ‘Oh, gee, wonder what
    this is?’ ” Reichert said.

    What she saw alarmed her.

    “They’ve got a picture of an open car trunk on one side with an
    arrow pointing in it, and a picture of Al Franken with his angry fist up
    on the other side, and they’re reporting that I’ve been driving around
    with ballots in my car,” Reichert said.

    Reichert doesn’t even own a car — she drives an SUV. It doesn’t
    have a trunk. Yet more than any other, this story has persisted as an
    emblem that there was something very wrong with Minnesota’s 2008
    recount.”

    Tsk! Tsk! Tsk!

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    That’s actually amusing. Thank you.

  • Anonymous

    It’s Norbit. Don’t even bother.

  • Anonymous

    Too bad. Even in his dotage he easily would have been more qualified than any of these yahoos vying for the Republican nomination.

  • Henry Wood

    No!  Our Frothy HERO will emerge VICTORIOUS!!!

  • Anonymous

    This from the same group who want to run the country? What a freaking joke. 

  • Henry Wood

    Must be all them EELEEGULLS votin’ in dehr republikun prah-maray!!!

  • Gloves Martin Donahue

    Got that from a garage sale at Morey Amsterdam’s house. A while back.

  • Anonymous

    The GOP phonies at Iowa, including the Governor stated that Ron Paul winning the primary would discredit their caucus. The Irony, that they are the cause of their caucus being discredited.

  • Gloves Martin Donahue

    There are peaks and valleys in the Caucasus, but the highest mountain is considered to be Mt. Elbrus.

    And today, this mountain range is discredited. There will be…repercussions.

  • Pablo

    He really gets your excretions flowing, huh?

  • Anonymous

    You might need to take a hike up there. 

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    I’d love a nice Cappuccino right now.

  • The Real Royal Emperor

    So, where is Morey parking his car, now?

  • Anonymous

    You must have googled his name. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1190134026 Barry Dalton

    you called it “The Real Royal Emperor”

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1190134026 Barry Dalton

    how so?

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1190134026 Barry Dalton

    why don’t you address the real issue

    Iowa caucus votes are for sale

    if I were Romney, I’d demand my money back

  • Pablo

    No, I just noticed that Henry was frothy. You know, it might be rabies.

  • Pablo

    Well, that’s quite a conspiracy theory.

  • Anonymous

    Right! Don’t be embarrassed, you might have done it by ‘accident’.

  • Duke Chesnut

    Its an EVIL republican plot, those pesky iron fences around cemetarys in Chicago, to disenfranchise the minority voters buried there.

  • Gloves Martin Donahue

    Right between Henny Youngman and Alan King at that comedy club in the sky.

  • http://PalinsDirtyLittleSecret.blogspot.com/ IcaughtOsamaClickHere4Proof

    I got a better one and it’s not a theory

    Unelected officials have taken over Washington and are orchestrating the daily news. 90% of the comments and replies you’re reading online come from an NSA software program spamming the internet. COMMENTS ARE CREATED BEFORE THE STORY IS REPORTED. They are designed to generate a response and will engage people in real time.

    The oldest, first, highest, best, and most popular rated comments are all propaganda. They are conducting Psy-ops (psychological operations) for domestic spying. They have 1000′s of handles and are determined to bury the truth and attack anyone leaking it. The biggest cover up is exposed at the link in my name.

  • http://profiles.google.com/fatlibertarianinokc Fat Libertarian

    I had a feeling their goal was to have Romney come out on top.

    Now it’s too late for it too matter so the Iowa GOP got exactly what they wanted.

  • Anonymous

     
    With their silly, stupid and rigged caucus voting in Iowa, the state is a sicko laughing stock and totally irreverent.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Roger-Rickards/1082264578 Roger Rickards

    Let us not forget that Santorum has the backing of Dobson.

  • http://twitter.com/Darr247 Darr Darr

    The Iowa caucuses don’t mean much anyway… Iowa’s convention delegates aren’t actually awarded until August, among the last states to do so. The causcuses elect county delegates, then they have county conventions to elect state delegates, then a state convention to assign the national convention delegates. Biggest waste of money ever thought up by a bunch of politicians.

  • http://twitter.com/Darr247 Darr Darr

    That’s good, because he didn’t.  :-)

  • Anonymous

    Megyn Kelly is an actual journalist? I thought she was a lawyer? 

  • Anonymous

    What a joke, I doubt that they ever know who really won.

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