GOP: Results not complete

four decades ago.

Regardless of the outcome, there was enough for both to claim a victory — Romney as the man to beat for the party’s nomination and Santorum as the leader among those struggling to emerge as the former governor’s unvarnished conservative rival in the primaries yet to come.

New Hampshire votes next, and Romney is heavily favored in the first-inthe-nation primary on Jan. 10. South Carolina on Jan. 21 figures to be a tougher test, the first contest in the South and a state that is part of the Republican political base.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was headed for a fourth-place finish, trailed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann was far behind. Her campaign manager, Keith Nahigian, suggested she might drop out, but she seemed to signal otherwise a short while later. “I believe that I am the true conservative who can and who will defeat Barack Obama in 2012,” she declared.

Returns from 1,703 of 1,774 precincts showed Santorum with 24.6 percent, Romney with 24.5 percent and Paul with 21.3 percent.

Santorum had 29,046 votes, Romney 28,928 and Paul 25,121.

Gingrich had 13 percent, followed by Perry, 10 percent, and Bachmann with 5 percent.

No matter how close the final results in Iowa, there were no plans for a recount.

Doug Heye, a spokesman for the state party, said the ballots were counted under the supervision of campaign representatives who certified the totals. He said the numbers were doublechecked when they were reported to state officials and there was no reason to check them again.

“On to New Hampshire,” Gingrich said to the cheers of his supporters, vowing to carry on his campaign no matter the Iowa outcome.

The former speaker led in the pre-caucus polls as recently as a few weeks ago, only to fall under the weight of attack ads run by a super PAC run by allies of Romney.

Paul, too, said he was looking forward to the nation’s first primary in a week’s time, telling supporters his was one of two campaigns with the resources to do the distance. “There’s going to be an election up in New Hampshire, and believe me this momentum is going to continue and this movement is going to continue and we are going to keep scoring,” he told supporters.

The Texas lawmaker didn’t say so, but the other campaign already built for a long campaign was Romney’s. Romney was closeted with aides and his family as he sweated out the caucus count in a state that humbled him four years ago.

This time, win or lose, he appeared destined to draw a smaller share of the vote than the 25.2 percent he did then.

Whichever among the three eventually finished ahead, it appeared likely the winner’s share of the vote would be a record low for GOP caucuses in the state. Former Sen. Bob Dole had 26.3 percent support in 1996, when he won.

This time, the economy and the federal budget deficit were top issues, judged more important than abortion or health care, according to a survey of early caucus-goers.

Nearly a third of those surveyed said they most wanted a candidate who could defeat Obama, and those favored Romney as a group. Paul and Santorum split the votes of the one in four who called the selection of a true conservative their top priority. .

The survey by Edison Media Research for The Associated Press and television networks was based on interviews with 1,737 people arriving at 40 precinct caucuses across the state.