Jan. 4 (Washington Post) -- Rep. Michele Bachmann on Wednesday became the first official casualty of the hard-fought Iowa caucuses, announcing that she was dropping her bid for the Republican presidential nomination as the leading candidates, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, moved their fight to New Hampshire.
Bachmann, whose fiery rhetoric and social conservatism propelled her to the top of the closely watched Iowa straw poll in August, ended up in last place in Tuesday’s caucuses. She said in a morning news conference in West Des Moines that she would end her campaign after winning just 5 percent of the vote.
““Last night, the people of Iowa spoke, with a very clear voice, and so I have decided to stand aside,” Bachmann said.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, another hopeful who surged early in the race, also cancelled campaign plans Wednesday after garnering just 10 percent of the vote despite spending more on advertising in Iowa than any other candidate. But Perry sent out a tweet late Wednesday morning that indicated he would head to South Carolina soon and keep campaigning.
With the New Hampshire primary just six days away, and South Carolina’s primary in less than three weeks, the Iowa results underscore key questions about whether Romney can expand his base of support nationally and whether Santorum — or any other candidate — can muster the funding and organization needed to defeat him.
Romney, who is the front-runner nationally but was not expected to do well in Iowa, won 25 percent of the vote, capturing just eight votes more than Santorum out of more than 122,000 cast.
“Governor Romney has a big advantage in money and time, and he’s been running for about six years,” said Santorum, a little-known former senator from Pennsylvania who campaigned extensively in Iowa but lags far behind Romney in New Hampshire, the former Massachusetts governor’s neighboring state.
“We feel like we can go up there and compete,” Santorum said in an interview with CNN. “We feel very good that we’re going to climb that ladder, just like we did” in Iowa.
Romney told reporters en route to New Hampshire that he was “pretty pleased” with his performance in Iowa but acknowledged the victory was a narrow one. “I think landslides are terrific,” Romney said. “I just didn’t see that in last night’s figures. I’m not sure about you.”
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) was the first candidate to arrive in the Granite State from Iowa on Wednesday, landing on a charter flight before dawn and vowing to counter the onslaught of negative advertising that reversed his meteoric rise in Iowa and left him limping to a fourth-place, 13 percent finish. In third place was Texas Rep. Ron Paul, with 21 percent of the vote.
“We were on a path to have a real policy debate ... and then we got diverted by Romney and his negative campaign, and also Ron Paul, to some extent,” Gingrich said on MSNBC Wednesday morning. “So now we have to go back and figure out how we are going to run in an environment where clearly you have two guys who are willing to say things that are not honest, and who have millions of dollars to pay for doing so.”
Bachmann, who was born in Iowa and was counting on a strong showing there, had previously planned to fly to South Carolina early in the morning to campaign for the primary that is scheduled for Jan. 21.
