ABJ - January 4 - In the end, it proved to be a two-horse race between former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. With the votes counted, Romney defeated Santorum by a slight edge of eight votes—30,015 to 30,007.             

With the victory, Romney captured a score of 13 delegates, while runner-up Santorum tallied 12 delegates. A minimum 1,245 delegates reached during the primary season is required to win the eventual Republican nomination. The caucus race continues in New Hampshire on January 10.

Texas Congressman Ron Paul, who polled well in Iowa prior to yesterday’s vote, finished third in the state, capturing 21.4 per cent of the vote (26,219 votes).

Following Paul was former Speaker Newt Gingrich (16,251 votes, 13.3 per cent), Texas Governor Rick Perry (12,604 votes, 10.3 per cent), and Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (6,073 votes, five per cent).

By District, Romney topped second-place finisher Paul by more than 500 votes in District 1. In District 2, Santorum edged Romney by 38 votes, with 6,890 ballots marked for Santorum, who surged in Iowa polls over the past two to three days. Romney won by a commanding lead in District 3, with more than 1,700 votes to the runner-up Santorum, while Santorum ran away with District 4, capturing 9,046 votes to second-place Romney’s 6,594 votes.

Following the results, most notable was the disappointed of Perry, who has since suspended his campaign to reevaluate his next move going forward.

“With the voters’ decision tonight in Iowa, I’ve decided to return to Texas, assess the results of tonight's caucus, [and] determine whether there is a path forward for myself in this race,” Perry said.