Ron Paul takes the lead in Iowa.

[loinburger]

All of those sheeple really liked Ron Paul, but were somehow easily swayed to vote for somebody else. I blame the Zionists.

[Dinner]

No. They conducted a skewed poll which only polled Republicans in Iowa, which is retarded because they have open caucuses, thus presenting the illusion that Santorum had "surged" to much higher numbers in Iowa.

So your argument is that he surged but that they allowed everyone to vote thus showing he surged but things would be different if they didn't let everyone vote. Sorry, dude, but that's dumb.

[HalfLotus]

It's about pre-caucus narrative. Media reports "surge", sheeple fall in line and vote accordingly. Republicans are notoriously fair-weather voters, see HC.

[Lorizael]

[Dinner]

I feel bad for Perry. He was actually getting much better at speeches without fumbling everything, it was clear in the later debates that he actually had good people coaching him because he stopped looking foolish and started sounding like he knew what he was talking about, and he spent a metric **** ton of money on get out the vote efforts and advertising in Iowa. The man spent, according to MSNBC, $500 for every vote he got in Iowa. He spent all that money and actually became a much better candidate yet it was too little, too late so he belly flopped so badly he had to throw in the towel.

He might be someone to watch in 2016 after Romney goes down in flames this Nov.

[giblets]

I don't get how Santorum is a RINO, Half Lotus. He seems very "conservative".

[loinburger]

The man spent, according to MSNBC, $500 for every vote he got in Iowa.

Good thing for him that more people didn't vote for him or he might have gone bankrupt.

[kentonio]

4. Establishment media picks up poll, and pumps up Santorum days before caucus, and with too little time for him to be vetted as the RINO he is.

This only makes any sense if you mean that he's far too bat**** crazy to be a real Republican. Of course by that measure, Ron Paul is the ultimate RINO.

[giblets]

It's about pre-caucus narrative. Media reports "surge", sheeple fall in line and vote accordingly. Republicans are notoriously fair-weather voters, see HC.

Yeah, that's why candidates have a tendency to have minimal support for a long time and then suddenly "surge". Most Republicans will only take a candidate seriously if they see other Republicans doing it. This is an example of multiple equilibria. The Republicans are literally a herd.

[HalfLotus]

I don't get how Santorum is a RINO, Half Lotus. He seems very "conservative".

Sure he seems that way on C[IA]NN. But his voting record is atrocious:

Voted to expand medicare
Voted for expanded gun control
Votes for foreign aid
Voted for NCLB, and to double the size of the dept. of education
Worked closely with Tom DeLay to set up the “K Street Project,”

IIRC, Iowa voters for Frothy listed abortion as their #1 issue.

[Lorizael]

Good thing for him that more people didn't vote for him or he might have gone bankrupt.

[giblets]

IIRC, Iowa voters for Frothy listed abortion as their #1 issue.

The message here is probably that they're trying to abort the republic.

[HalfLotus]

Paul makes history in first-in-nation voting state

National Campaign Chairman Jesse Benton:

“The Ron Paul campaign is celebrating a great victory tonight.

“There were three tickets out of Iowa, and Ron Paul earned one of them.

“One of the three tickets, the one belonging to Rick Santorum, is a dead-end due to Santorum’s weak fundraising and lack of national campaign organization.

"This is now a two way race between establishment candidate Mitt Romney and the candidate for real change, Ron Paul.

“Ron Paul has a top notch national organization, tremendous fundraising prowess, and unequaled enthusiasm among his volunteers and supporters.

“Dr. Paul has taken the first step towards earning the delegates it will take to be the GOP nominee and is the only candidate not named Mitt Romney with the ability to do so.

“Ron Paul is now off to New Hampshire, South Carolina, Louisiana, Nevada, Maine, North Dakota, Washington, Colorado, and beyond.

"See you on the campaign trail.”

Ron Paul May Have Secretly Won The Iowa Caucuses

DES MOINES — Ron Paul may have officially come in third tonight, but if the campaign's caucus strategy went off as planned, then Paul may actually be the real winner of the first Republican voting contest.

That's because Paul's massive organizational push in Iowa focused on both winning votes, and also on making sure that Paul supporters stuck around after the vote to make sure they were selected as county delegates — the first step towards being elected as a delegate to the Republican National Convention.

That's because Iowa's Republican caucuses are non-binding — they are technically just a straw poll, so once selected, delegates are free to vote for whichever presidential candidate they choose.

"Part of what we've been training the Ron Paul people to do is not to leave after the vote," Dan Godzich, a senior campaign advisor, told BI. "Stay and get elected to the conventions and get us those delegates."

Godzich and Sydney Hay, another Paul advisor, crisscrossed Iowa in the weeks leading up to the caucuses, making sure precinct leaders knew what to do and organizing slates of delegates that would ensure Paul walked away with a strong majority, even if he lost the caucus' straw poll vote.

By the eve of Election Day, Hay said she was confident that Paul would come away from Iowa with a strong majority of the state's delegates. It's a good first step toward making sure that Paul has a strong presence on the floor in Tampa this summer — something that his supporters believe will help force the Republican party to start reckoning with their Movement.

UPDATE: 1:40 a.m.

Sources close to the Paul campaign indicated Tuesday that they were happy with their delegate count. Although we couldn't get specific numbers, a source told Business Insider that Paul nailed down the delegates in all of Iowa's smaller counties, and made a strong showing in several larger ones.

[Dinner]

I don't get how Santorum is a RINO, Half Lotus. He seems very "conservative".

If he was any more conservative he'd have Jesus's face tattooed on his ass.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Sure he seems that way on C[IA]NN. But his voting record is atrocious:

Voted to expand medicare
Voted for expanded gun control
Votes for foreign aid
Voted for NCLB, and to double the size of the dept. of education
Worked closely with Tom DeLay to set up the “K Street Project,”

IIRC, Iowa voters for Frothy listed abortion as their #1 issue.

Plenty of conservatives don't see much wrong with that (well aside from gun control expansion). Conservativism doesn't mean gutting the government to nothing - that's Reactionary. Conservativism is about conserving traditions as progress occures (read your Burke).