Two-way battle in Iowa caucuses

DES MOINES -- Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney waged a seesaw battle for supremacy in Iowa's Republican presidential caucuses late last night, a dramatic opening round for the campaign to pick a challenger to President Barack Obama.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul ran third.

Returns from 99 percent of the state's 1,774 precincts showed Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, with 29,944 votes, up by 18 votes over Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, who had 29,926 votes -- a fitting conclusion to a race as jumbled as any since Iowa gained the lead-off position in presidential campaigns four decades ago.

There was room for both to claim 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.

"Game on," Santorum said, jaw clenched, in a late-night appearance before supporters in the Iowa capital city.

New Hampshire votes next, and Romney is heavily favored in the first-in-the-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 finished in fourth place and vowed to fight on.

He was followed by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who somberly told supporters he was headed back home to Texas to reassess a candidacy that bloomed early, then faded.

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.

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 double-checked 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.

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.

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

Each of the three in the top tier strove to create a distinct identity and brought a different style to the race.

Santorum ran the old-fashioned way, spending parts or all of 250 days campaigning in the state in hopes of emerging as the preferred conservative alternative to Romney.

Romney brought organization and money to the table, and was aided by deep-pocketed allies who ran television commercials attacking Gingrich and others. That allowed Romney to take the high road in person, running as a former businessman who knew how to create jobs and defeat Obama.

Paul was something of a blend of the two approaches, with money and organization. He drew on the support of younger caucus-goers with a libertarian-leaning approach that included a call to legalize marijuana and bring home U.S. troops from overseas.