It is 1:30 in the morning, 99% of the votes are in in Iowa and holy cow what a night. From the beginning, Romney, Santorum, and Paul have been neck and neck. Later in the day, Paul, still a very strong showing in my opinion, faded away, securing a third place spot.
But the story of the night by far is Rick Santorum. He could not have surged in the polls at a better time. Now, this candidate, who was getting made fun of on SNL constantly, and barely being heard at debates, is beating the long time front-runner. I don't care what the numbers say, although he is winning at the moment, he is far and away the winner of tonight among the republican candidates. His stump speech was touching and heartfelt, but not very polished and not necessarily my cup of tea. I like what he had to say about manufacturing and his plans to create jobs. He is also pro-protectionism, which I like. He will carry a lot of momentum into New Hampshire next week, however the reason he was able to do so well in Iowa was because he went to every single county in the state and had over 370 meetings and rallies. Unless he gets some serious funding, that isn't going to happen anywhere else, or maybe Iowa will be the state that gets those Super Pacs going, "Maybe there is something to this guy..."
Romney still did very well tonight. People have to keep in mind that Santorum went to all 99 counties in Iowa in over 370 meetings. Romney's Iowa campaign pales in comparison. He polled almost identically to the way he did four ears ago, interestingly enough. His stump speech was typical of his campaign so far. It was polished, clean, and criticized Obama significantly more than talking about his own platform. Still, he showed his verbal prowess compared to Santorum.
Another interesting storyline tonight, Angry Newt Gingrich. Most of what campaigning Romney did, was bashing Newt Gingrich, the former leader in the race by a sizable margin. His adds effectively took Newt down a few notches, to fourth place specifically. I am truly terrified though of what is going to happen in New Hampshire and especially South Carolina. I am worried Newt is going to come out of Iowa stark raving mad, with a smear campaign locked and loaded against Romney. And Romney, I am assuming, will start to go after Santorum after he has begun to prove the conservative alternate to him, and an emerging threat.
Also, after getting squashed, we can say quite assuredly that Bachmann is done, she is probably going to hang around a little longer, but she is for all intents and purposes, kaput. Also Perry is going to "reassess" his campaign, after coming in fifth today.
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