The Des Moines Register reports:
There are too many holes in the certified totals from the Iowa caucuses to know for certain who won, but Rick Santorum wound up with a 34-vote advantage.
Results from eight precincts are missing — any of which could hold an advantage for Mitt Romney — and will never be recovered and certified, Republican Party of Iowa officials told The Des Moines Register on Wednesday.
GOP officials discovered inaccuracies in 131 precincts, although not all the changes affected the two leaders. Changes in one precinct alone shifted the vote by 50 — a margin greater than the certified tally.
The certified numbers: 29,839 for Santorum and 29,805 for Romney. The turnout: 121,503.
Watching Santorrum campaign in South Carolina (the topic of my piece on the homepage today), it’s clear that he is having trouble replicating the momentum he got his last few days in Iowa. Now, armed with an Iowa victory, Santorum may be able to make a more compelling case to voters that he’s a viable candidate.