COMMENTARY | Tuesday night I was up until about 1 in the morning closely watching the results of the Iowa caucus. The polls preceding the event suggested it could be any man's race. The most recent polls published indicated Mitt Romney in the lead with Texas Congressman Ron Paul trailing in a close second, and in fact, statistically tied for first. Everyone remembers the 2008 race, where Paul emerged in fifth with a mere 10 percent of the vote. As the results last night indicated, however, times have changed dramatically.
Nonetheless I believe the greatest surprise of all was produced by none other than former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who not only stole the second-place slot from Paul but even came within eight votes of winning first, trailing only former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
These results, strange as they were in light of recent polls, do not come as a surprise. Many expected Paul to take away a first place victory, or at very least be second to Romney. This is not shocking to many, however, including Republican strategist Dee Dee Benkie, who indicated the Republican Party in Iowa would never allow Paul to come in first.
"Oh I'm not speculating I spoke to the party officials, I know they're concerned about it," she said recently in an interview with Breitbart TV. "Because you know it takes away their significance, they want to keep Iowa No. 1 in the nation." She seemed to indicate that because a Paul win would allegedly hurt the credibility of the Iowa caucus that the party leaders would never allow it to happen and explained that party officials hold a lot of sway in the caucus. "You know that's why folks can't predict these things. ... The party still matters here."
Benkie did admit the party was deeply divided over whether to support Santorum or Romney, and the party was concerned the split could lead to a Paul victory. "There's a real split there ??? and you know there's a real concern about the Ron Paul thing because if that gets split he could win it, and they really don't want that."
All speculation aside, I think it's safe to say that everyone won in Iowa on Tuesday night. Paul supporters remain enthusiastic and believe his third-place win will build momentum in the greater primary. If nothing else it proves he's electable, contrary to claims made otherwise.
Santorum's second-place win, and one so close, will give him much-needed credibility and momentum in a campaign that was previously running on empty. Romney won because, well, he won the caucus. Meanwhile the Republican Party of Iowa wins in the end because they got what they wanted: Paul didn't get first.
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