Who really won Iowa, Rick Santorum or Mitt Romney? And at this point, does it matter?
Iowa Republicans are
currently tabulating the final certified results for their caucuses—and the results could show that the real winner was Rick Santorum, not Mitt Romney.
The final, official results of the Iowa caucuses are expected to be released as early as Wednesday and as late as Friday, an Iowa Republican party spokesman told News Channel 8 on Monday.
A razor thin margin of eight votes currently separate Mitt Romney and second-place finisher Rick Santorum.
On Monday, Santorum's Iowa campaign and Gov. Terry Branstad said Santorum could end up winning.
According to Byron York, a "campaign source" told him that Santorum was in the lead by 80 votes as of midday Monday. York says that a Santorum victory would be a blow to Romney's inevitability narrative, but that narrative has already been set in stone. Now that the Republican establishment is this close to getting what they want, they aren't going to let anybody dislodge Romney from his throne without a major fight, and none of Romney's rivals have displayed anywhere near enough political talent—let alone financial resources—to win such a battle.
But while a Santorum victory in Iowa wouldn't change much about the Republican nomination contest, it would be a perfect symbol for Mitt Romney: the candidate who started the campaign with every advantage in the world, who nobody really liked, but who felt so damn entitled to the nomination that he eagerly accepted victory ... even when he didn't really win.