Thursday, January 19, 2012

Breaking: Santorum Wins Iowa: GOP Elites Declare Race A Tie

Joyce Morris, a poster on Facebook, may have best described the frustration that is being felt by GOP voters: "The Iowa Republican Party has been caught in a lie and with their pants down trying to orchestrate a win for the 'Establishment' candidate, Romney. Isn't it interesting that on caucus night a lead of 8 votes was touted by all as a win for Romney but a lead of 34 for Santorum is a tie?"

When the media declared Romney the winner of the Iowa Caucus, the vote tally was based on results that were phoned-in from the various precincts across Iowa; but when officials actually started counting the votes and Santorum pulled ahead, the unthinkable happenned.

Jennifer Jacobs with The Des Moines Register reports: "Results from eight precincts are missing... and will never be recovered and certified, Republican Party of Iowa officials told The Des Moines Register on Wednesday."

Unable to certify the results of the Iowa Caucus, state party officials scrambled and declared the race a tie. Iowa GOP executive director Chad Olsen exclaimed to the media that the race was "a split decision." And then, in an attempt to control the damage, party insiders immediately set out to control the narrative and went to bat for Mitt Romney.

Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn delivered the narrative to The Des Moines Register: "I can’t speculate without documentation from the missing eight." After claiming that he congratulated both Romney and Santorum, he added; "I don’t think the certified vote totals take anything away from either Governor Romney or Senator Santorum.”

John Stineman, an Iowa Republican operative, echoed those sentiments: "It will be a story and Santorum will seize upon it, but it won’t change the current political narrative.” Stineman added that "it certainly wouldn’t have changed how New Hampshire came out, nor (Romney’s) status as the national front-runner.”

But, in spite of what Mr. Stineman and Mr. Strawn are telling us, the political narrative has changed and Romney's status as front-runner has changed as well. He can no longer claim a win in Iowa and with Rick Perry's recent departure from the race and a Gingrich-Santorum surge in South Carolina, it's clear that "Mr. Electability's" star is quickly fading.

Are the lost votes in Iowa just an innocent mistake? You can read the full story in The Des Moines Register and decide for yourself.
Posted By: Chris Carmouche