If Rick Santorum won Iowa, why is GOP calling it a 'split decision'?

Reuters via CSMonitor ^ | January 19, 2012 | Reuters

[Qbert]

The Iowa Republican Party will certify this month's presidential caucuses as a split decision between former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, citing missing data from eight precincts, the Des Moines Register reported on Thursday.

The party had previously awarded the contest to Romney, with an eight vote margin. The official certified caucus results are due out Thursday at 8:15 a.m. local time (1415 GMT).

The Register said the new count put Santorum ahead by 34 votes. However, results from any one of the eight precincts with "missing data" could hold an advantage for Romney, the Register reported.

"It's a split decision," the newspaper said, citing a party official in the state. There are too many holes in the certified total from the caucuses to know for certain who won, it said.

GOP officials discovered inaccuracies in 131 precincts, although not all the changes affected Romney or Santorum, the newspaper reported.

[Snip]

"The Iowa caucuses, with record turnout, were a great start to defeating President Obama in Iowa and elsewhere in the general election."

[DoughtyOne]

To my way of thinking, Romney and Rove are Conservatives to the power of zero.

While Newt talks a great line, debates well, seems to be knowledgeable about our Constitution, I still note infractions that tell me he isn’t that sound when it comes to his politics. With his cheating on his spouses, and buying into the man-made global warming thing, he rates a ranking of being a Conservative to the power of 0.5.

[JohnBovenmyer]

The 'votes' aren't , the 'certified votes' are missing. They were reported, along with all the other unofficial votes in the initial totals cited as a Mitt 8 vote win. 8/1774 precincts either didn't file or severely botched their certification paperwork so they aren't being counted. But their unofficial totals are known and would double Rick's winning total if added in:

Santorum	81
Paul	64
Romney	46
Perry	31
Gingrich	30
Bachmann	15
Huntsman	2
Total	269

Santorum's margin probably more than squares what the MSM had been touting as Mitt's the past 2 weeks. And although the Iowa GOP isn't counting these 269 votes they have changed their stance and are now admitting Rick won the state. I hope there is an outbreak of journalism in the state and it in some way validates the above votes. 4/8 of those precincts and 162/269 of those uncertified voters were in one county, Lee, so just one good reporter could do most of it.

[stylin19a]

nicely done...thanks

[JohnBovenmyer]

Some of the needed journalism has been done by the Iowa Republican. Lee County chair says the "unofficial count" in their four precincts was correct and they have the actual ballots to prove it, they just weren't able to get the official paperwork in. Pocahontas chair also was quoted as saying his precinct's unofficial count was accurate. Nothing was mentioned regarding the other three precincts.

	Con- firmed	Uncon- firmed	Total missing	Certified total	"Iowa" total
Santorum	67	14	81	29,839	29,920
Romney	35	11	46	29,805	29,851
Paul	43	21	64	26,036	26,100
Gingrich	27	3	30	16,163	16,193
Perry	21	10	31	12,557	12,588
Bachmann	4	11	15	6,046	6,061
Huntsman	2	0	2	739	741
Other/No Pref.	0	0	0	318	318
Totals	199	70	269	121,503	121,772

[Dudoight]

Got it! Thanks!

[longtermmemmory]

Iowa is not supposed to matter.

Iowa with open registration and similar same day sign up nonsense is a joke. Iowa and NH clearly have outlived their relavence to the nation as “first primary states”.

BTW NH, dispite continued hissy fits, Iowa is first.