Iowa: Mitt Romney Beats Rick Santorum by 8 Votes

The outcome in Iowa's GOP caucuses says a lot about conservatives in Iowa and today's Republican Party and none of it is good. That someone as extreme and totally out of the mainstream as Rick Santorum could virtually tie for first place underscores that the party has been hijacked by far right Christians who first and foremost are focused on continuing the culture wars against most Americans and, of course, gays in particular. It also indicates that despite its progressive history, something foul is occurring in Iowa itself that collectively the crazy GOP contenders far out performed sane candidates. The only good news is that the poor showings of Gingrich, Perry and Bachmann may mean the deaths of their campaigns. One can only hope that as the GOP presidential contest moves to New Hampshire, Santorum will go down in flames as an unelectable extremist. The Washington Post looks at yesterday's results. Here are highlights:

Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney beat former senator Rick Santor­um (Pa.) in the Iowa caucuses by just eight votes, a sign of a splintered and increasingly fractious field as the GOP presidential race moves to New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida.

Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) scored a close but disappointing third-place finish in a state where he had hoped to score a breakout victory. . . . . Further back in the pack were three candidates who had been considered leading contenders at earlier points in the race: former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.), with 13 percent of the vote, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, with 10 percent. Putting in a particularly dismal showing was Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.), with 5 percent.

[Perry] said he planned to go home to Texas instead and “determine whether there is a path forward for myself in this race.” It is more difficult to see such a path for Bachmann, given her last-place finish and the fact that her campaign strategy had been premised on a strong launch in Iowa . . .

Though Santorum’s old-fashioned, shoe-leather approach to campaigning paid off in Iowa, the question now is how far he can go from here, given his lack of resources and the need to ramp up a national organization. . . . Santorum also will come under the kind of scrutiny and criticism that he was spared when the other contenders did not view him as a threat.

[B]oth Paul, a libertarian whose views are out of line with those of most Republicans, and Santorum, an underfinanced social conservative, will struggle to prevail against Romney in the long run.

[I]t appears that for the first time in this campaign, Romney is about to come under intense attack by his opponents, which could further roil — and prolong — the race.

For all the attention the Iowa caucuses receive as the first contest of the nominating season, they have been an unreliable predictor of which GOP candidate will ultimately receive the nomination in races where there is not an incumbent president.

Since the caucuses first rose to prominence in the 1970s, only two winners — Sen. Robert J. Dole in 1996 and Texas Gov. George W. Bush — have gone on to become their party’s standard-bearers. Past Iowa contests have, however, cleared the field of its weaker performers.

Candidly, the more the GOP candidates bloody themselves, the better. It will be entertaining to watch the demolition derby continue.