Despite her poor showing

While Romney is the technical winner, moncler jackets the results leave both candidates able to claim the momentum going into New Hampshire. Romney was able to eke out a victory despite having largely ignored the contest earlier in his campaign. Santorum, meanwhile, can charge out of Iowa claiming he is the chosen conservative alternative to Romney -- though at least a couple other candidates will continue to compete for that mantle. "Game on," Santorum said as he addressed a crowd of supporters shortly after midnight. The former Pennsylvania senator just one week ago was at single digits in the Iowa polls. He vaulted to the front of the field at just the right time after assiduously courting Iowa caucus-goers, visiting all 99 counties in the state and holding hundreds of campaign events there.

Several analysts said that Santorum emerges the de facto winner considering where he started. His campaign looking far more potent, Santorum vowed early Wednesday to take the fight into New Hampshire, where Romney leads in the polls. Santorum tried to twin his social conservative message with an economic populist appeal to job-seeking voters, stressing the importance of manufacturing in America. "It is a message that will resonate across this land," he said. Romney, who spoke before final results were announced, kept his remarks focused on President Obama, calling his term a "failed presidency" and urging voters to select a candidate like himself "who's had a job in the private sector." Romney congratulated Santorum and Ron Paul, who came in third, on their performances. "We're going to change the White House and get America back on track," Romney said. Paul landed in third place with 22 percent of the vote. Newt Gingrich finished fourth, followed by Rick Perry in fifth and Michele Bachmann in last place among the candidates who were competing there. Paul, speaking late Tuesday night to a revved-up crowd in Ankeny, Iowa, described his third-place position as "one of three tickets out" of Iowa and, in an apparent shot at Santorum, his operation as "one of two that can actually run a national campaign and raise the money." Paul said, "We will go on, we will raise the money -- I have no doubt about the volunteers." Paul cycled through his trademark issues, lambasting the Federal Reserve and U.S. monetary policy, while claiming cheap moncler the American people are at his back on issues like his opposition to the Afghanistan war. Perry said after his fifth-place finish that he would be reassessing his campaign. "I've decided to return to Texas, assess the results of tonight's caucus, determine whether there is a path forward for myself in this race," Perry told a crowd of supporters in West Des Moines. But Bachmann, despite her poor showing, did not drop out.

She said she wants to let the people decide and that "there are many more chapters to be written on the path to our party's nomination." Gingrich vowed to press ahead as he forecasted a "great debate" in the Republican Party. Gingrich described himself as the "Reagan conservative" in the race, and said voters would have to choose between him and a "Massachusetts moderate." Gingrich praised Santorum -- whose advisers claim the race is now a two-man contest between Romney and their candidate -- for running a "positive campaign.
 "I wish I could say that for all the candidates," Gingrich added. The former House speaker was pummeled by negative ads in Iowa. Going forward, Gingrich said he would not air "nasty ads," but would "reserve the right to tell the truth." Gingrich also took a shot at Paul, describing his foreign policy views as "stunningly dangerous." The results came in following a day of sharp-elbowed politicking. The exchanges were characteristic of the bitter tone that pervaded the tense closing moments of one of history's most volatile GOP elections. With more than 40 percent of Iowans supposedly uncommitted to a candidate as of this past weekend, the campaigns came into Tuesday night's caucuses with little certainty of the outcome. The three candidates at the top took nothing for granted, holding rallies on caucus day moncler for men - Cheap Moncler Jackets in a final bid to get out the vote.