DES MOINES—Early counts showed Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum locked Tuesday in a three-way battle to win Iowa, the first state to vote in the Republican presidential nomination contest.
Voter write their candidates name on a ballot during Republican caucues at a school in Des Moines, Iowa, on January 3. Iowans cast the first votes of the 2012 battle for the White House on Tuesday in an unpredictable ballot that could winnow down the field of Republicans vying to take on President Barack Obama. AFP
Each of the three leading candidates, vying for the right to take on President Barack Obama in November 2012, had 23 percent of the vote with more than a quarter of precincts reporting, US television networks said.
If the early count translates into a similar final result, it will have been a good night for Romney, the national frontrunner who is favorite to win next week’s second vote in New Hampshire and go on to seal the nomination.
Texas congressman Paul’s unorthodox libertarian views have earned him a devout following, but he is seen as uncompetitive in other states, while former senator Santorum, 53, faces an uphill fight to match Romney’s massive national organization.
The Iowa caucuses come against the backdrop of a sour, job-hungry US economy that weighs heavily on the embattled Obama’s bid for a second term, four years after he promised “hope and change” in his historic 2008 victory.
“He’s out!” Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and millionaire venture capitalist, told cheering supporters at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa’s capital, in the final countdown to the vote. “I will get America working again!”
Final results were expected within hours after Iowans from the state’s 1,774 precincts gathered in small groups to hear speeches from their neighbors on behalf of the seven candidates in play here.
Obama, running unopposed for the Democratic nomination, addressed party activists in Iowa by video conference from a posh hotel near the White House before taking his economic message Wednesday to the vital state of Ohio.
He said he was more optimistic now than four years ago when he won the Iowa caucuses, putting him on the path to his historic victory in the White House race.
“We’ve already seen change take place. 2012 is about reminding the American people how far we’ve traveled,” he said.
Tuesday night was already proving disastrous for Representative Michele Bachmann, who was trailing the leaders in sixth place on just six percent, with 27 percent of precincts reporting.
Former US envoy to China Jon Huntsman skipped Iowa in favor of focusing on New Hampshire, where Romney enjoys a considerable opinion poll lead.