Santorum declared winner of Iowa caucuses

DES MOINES, Iowa, Jan. 21 (UPI) -- The Iowa Republican Party issued a statement declaring Rick Santorum the winner of the 2012 Iowa caucuses.

There had been some confusion this week after the party, which announced Thursday that the former Pennsylvania senator overtook Mitt Romney by a 34-vote margin, had said results from eight precincts were missing, making it unclear if it was declaring Santorum the winner or calling it a tie.

In a statement released just before midnight Friday, however, the party officially declared Santorum the winner, The Washington Post reported.

"In order to clarify conflicting reports and to affirm the results released January 18 by the Republican Party of Iowa, Chairman Matthew Strawn and the State Central Committee declared Senator Rick Santorum the winner of the 2012 Iowa Caucus," the statement said.

On election night, Romney had an eight-vote advantage. The Iowa GOP then took two weeks to certify the results and posted Santorum's 34-vote lead on its Web site Thursday, but no official winner was declared.

Later Thursday, Chairman Strawn said it was "irrefutable" that Santorum "was the winner of the certified precinct vote total."

Experts say the confusion in Iowa raise questions about the caucuses and their status as the first-in-the-nation contest.

"It's bad. It really hurts the caucuses," David Yepsen, a longtime observer of Iowa politics and director of Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University, told USA Today.

"The caucuses have lots of critics, and for this to happen really jeopardizes the future of the event," he said.