Iowa: Romney, Santorum seesawing in narrow vote

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney waged a seesaw battle for supremacy in Iowa's Republican presidential caucuses late Tuesday night, a dramatic opening round for the campaign to pick a challenger to President Barack Obama.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a leader in opinion polls at one point, finished a distant fifth and said he would return to his home state "to determine whether there is a path forward" for his White House aspirations.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul finished third, not far behind the front-runners.

Returns from 97 percent of the state's precincts showed Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, and Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, in a near dead heat, a fitting conclusion to a race as jumbled as any since Iowa gained the lead-off position in presidential campaigns four decades ago.

Regardless of the outcome, there was enough for both to claim a victory - Romney as the man to beat for the party's nomination and Santorum as the leader among those struggling to emerge as the former governor's unvarnished conservative rival in the primaries yet to come.

New Hampshire votes next, and Romney is heavily favored in the first-in-the-nation primary on Jan. 10. South Carolina on Jan. 21 figures to be a tougher test, the first contest in the South and a state that is part of the Republican political base.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was headed for a fourth-place finish.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann was far behind. Her campaign manager, Keith Nahigian, suggested she might drop out, but she seemed to signal otherwise a short while later. "I believe that I am the true conservative who can and who will defeat Barack Obama in 2012," she declared.

Returns from 1,715 of 1,774 precincts showed Santorum with 24.6 percent, Romney with 24.5 percent and Paul with 21.3 percent. Santorum had 29,151 votes, Romney 29,097 and Paul 25,269.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had 13 percent, followed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, 10 percent, and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann with 5 percent.

No matter how close the final results in Iowa, there were no plans for a recount.

Doug Heye, a spokesman for the state party, said the ballots were counted under the supervision of campaign representatives who certified the totals. He said the numbers were double-checked when they were reported to state officials and there was no reason to check them again.

"On to New Hampshire," Gingrich said to the cheers of his supporters, vowing to carry on his campaign no matter the Iowa outcome.