Discover Yahoo! With Your Friends

Explore news, videos, and much more based on what your friends are reading and watching. Publish your own activity and retain full control.

To get started, first

YOUR FRIENDS' ACTIVITY

    The Week

    Rick Santorum's belated Iowa win: Too late to matter?

    By The Week's Editorial Staff | The Week – Thu, Jan 19, 2012

    Turns out Santorum actually edged out Mitt Romney in the first contest of the GOP's nominating season. How does the final count affect the race?

    Sorry, Mitt: Looks like you didn't win the Iowa caucuses, after all. According to the state GOP's final count, released Thursday, Rick Santorum came out 34 votes ahead of Mitt Romney, instead of eight votes behind as originally reported. (One caveat: The ballots from eight precincts are missing, so the party is technically calling it a Romney-Santorum tie.) If Santorum had been declared the winner on election night, could he have parlayed the victory into even more momentum and become the consensus non-Romney — preventing Mitt from taking such a commanding early lead?

    This proves Romney isn't inevitable: Pundits were "singing the inevitability of Mitt Romney because for the first time in history a single candidate won both Iowa and New Hampshire in an open race," says William A. Jacobson in Legal Insurrection. Now we have proof that "the narrative was stupid." The news of Santorum's apparent victory deprives Romney of an "effective tool" he used to win over reluctant voters — and proves he isn't the inevitable GOP nominee.
    "So now Romney is not historic (or inevitable?)"

    Still, Iowa's news comes too late to matter: This affects the record books, but it doesn't change the race, says Aaron Blake at The Washington Post. "President campaigns are about momentum," and all of Iowa's momentum has been used up already. In the public's eye, Romney won Iowa, albeit narrowly, and that, together with his subsequent win in New Hampshire, made him "the undefeated likely nominee." Unfortunately for Santorum, "you can't unring a bell."
    "Rick Santorum may have won Iowa, but does it even matter?"

    Santorum was already Iowa's big winner: Little would have changed if Santorum had been declared victorious on Jan. 3, says Aaron Goldstein at The American Prospect. Santorum was always the big winner in Iowa, "regardless of the result." His surge there made him a legitimate conservative alternative to Romney — his problem is that in New Hampshire and now South Carolina his "sails have stilled," and Newt Gingrich has become the dominant conservative.
    "Does Santorum winning Iowa matter?"

    View this article on TheWeek.com Get 4 Free Issues of The Week

    Other stories from this topic:

    Like on Facebook - Follow on Twitter - Sign-up for Daily Newsletter

     
    • Maggoty John
      Maggoty John  •  4 mths ago
      This is why America is laughed at in some parts of the world, eight precincts missing, give me a break! There's stupid, very stupid then people who loose eight precincts of votes.
      • Bill from PA
        Bill from PA 4 mths ago
        That's the sad part. It wasn't due to stupidity but deliberate manipulation. Welcome to the GOP.
      • GA
        GA 4 mths ago
        Bill, what makes you so sure the GOP caused this manipulation? Things can get a little more complicated than blanket statements portray. Maggoty, the word is lose, not loose.
      • all for fun and fun for a ...
        all for fun and fun for a ... 4 mths ago
        GA typo get over it
    • George
      George  •  4 mths ago
      Good lord! Who says he won, except the media?!?!?!?!?!? The Iowa GOP was saying it's a "toss-up," as the media was reporting this morning. And then, the Iowa GOP was also saying there are a lot of other suspect reporting numbers and that we'll never REALLY know who won . So, it's a toss-up. Sure, there's one precinct that was in error to toss the election over to Ron. But how about all the others that are in error but can't be certified?

      That makes the Iowa caucus totally bogus.

      CNN and FOX are both ignoring the facts, and are just generating more sensational hype to fill time. They should be ashamed.
    • Greg
      Greg  •  4 mths ago
      Talk about voter fraud. Let's get voter picture id's so there's no cheating. LET'S LEARN TO COUNT THE VOTES THAT ARE MADE! These clowns should be restricted from politics for life.
    • Robert C
      Robert C  •  4 mths ago
      why the recount now they said there was no recount after the election
      • Old Geezer
        Old Geezer 4 mths ago
        Buyers remorse?
      • Beer
        Beer 4 mths ago
        It's not a recount, it's the official tally. The previously reported tally was just preliminary.
    • JoseM
      JoseM  •  Union, New Jersey  •  4 mths ago
      sounds like a little voter fraud huh?I guess it's what the macine wants to win not who the people actually vote for huh?
      • Kwang Yi
        Kwang Yi 4 mths ago
        sounds like work of joos....
      • JoseM
        JoseM 4 mths ago
        hey kwang yi thats not nice
    • nicole
      nicole  •  Richardson, Texas  •  4 mths ago
      How is thehell can you have 8 precincts missing? Where is the outrage?
      This is not rocket science! Count the votes people!
      I bet those 8 all voted for Ron Paul !!!
      Wake up American!!!!
      • re si
        re si 4 mths ago
        I'm glad that Santorum won. I think he would make a great president. But, I would like to know, as well, what the missing precinct's votes were. I'm sure if Yahoo/ABC cared enough, they could get the names of all those in charge of the 8, and press them for all the info they have. This year, I want true, fraud-free election!
    • Klayt
      Klayt  •  4 mths ago
      8 precincts missing...
    • Ro
      Ro  •  4 mths ago
      Too frothy for me.
    • ogilvy
      ogilvy  •  Doylestown, Pennsylvania  •  4 mths ago
      Ballot box missing in the United States of America? No, this only happen in developing countries. What happen to the father of democracy setting a good example?
    • DrunkenDonuts®
      DrunkenDonuts®  •  4 mths ago
      It's not your vote that matters. It's who counts your vote that matters.
    • Traveler
      Traveler  •  4 mths ago
      Do we need UN observes during the election???? "The ballots from eight precincts are missing" This was in the Third World or the USA? I am sure nothing neferious happened, but how do you loose the physcical ballots at a small precinct? For that matter at eight precincts? This is not a good sign for the general election. A rerun off 2000 coming up??? I hope not.
    • Red Neck Liberal
      Red Neck Liberal  •  Richardson, Texas  •  4 mths ago
      A repeat of the 2008 primaries... only this time for the GOP. Get ready, because like it or not the old guard of the GOP are going to stuff Romney down the peoples throat, because THEY want him... not the voters!
    • Al
      Al  •  4 mths ago
      I smell fraud. How do you not count 8 precincts? Remember when the tally started coming in? Ron Paul was the shocker owning over 50% 0f the votes. It looked like a Ron Paul landslide. Then everyone stopped voting for him. Strange indeed. If votes for Paul were not counted, the whole thing needs to be recounted, including the missing votes, and someone needs to go to jail.
    • Truth2Power
      Truth2Power  •  4 mths ago
      Must have been some hanging chads again!
    • valarie
      valarie  •  4 mths ago
      We need picture ID to cut down on voting fraud, and also math class to teach the people how to add. To lose people vote is beyond me.
    • blue
      blue  •  4 mths ago
      This makes Iowans look bad on SO many levels...
    • Jim M
      Jim M  •  4 mths ago
      The ballots from 8 precincts are still missing! And we want Iowa to be the first caucus why? All the press and noise and more noise for months about Iowa, Iowa, Iowa and they lose ballots from 8 precincts! Maybe some cows ate them?
    • Dar
      Dar  •  4 mths ago
      Santorum is a politician first and conservative second. The result is that he sometimes talks like a conservative, but he votes otherwise. He plays on fears to gets votes.
    • Sneaky
      Sneaky  •  Canton, Michigan  •  4 mths ago
      leave iowa out of the next caucus, they cant handle it..........two weeks to count the votes ridiculous......
    • Terry
      Terry  •  4 mths ago
      You know what folks? Honesty, integrety, high standard of work ethic-these are really GOOD MORAL TRAITS to practice. We, as a people, a nation never are injured by the practices above; but practices of deceit, dishonesty and little or no work ethics-these traits are killing all relationships between the people and its' government, as well as between each other. You see, if the other side wins, you do not practice deceit, but instead, congratulate and run a better race next time. PERIOD!.
     Post a comment

    News For You

    Loading...