Iowa Caucus: Cruz Cruises to Caucus Victory, Clinton, Sanders tie in Democrat Race
Texas Senator Ted Cruz has won the Republican Iowa Caucus. He won with 27.7% of the vote. The polling front-runner Businessman Donald Trump ended in second with 24.3% of the vote, but a strong finish third place finish from Florida Senator Marco Rubio will pile on the pressure for Trump. Rubio finished with 23.1% of the vote.
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Projected Delegates |
| Cruz, Ted | 27.7% | 51,041 | 8 |
| Trump, Donald | 24.3% | 44,416 | 7 |
| Rubio, Marco | 23.1% | 43,132 | 7 |
| Carson, Ben | 9.3% | 17,393 | 3 |
| Paul, Rand | 4.5% | 8,478 | 1 |
| Bush, Jeb | 2.8% | 5,235 | 1 |
| Florina, Carly | 1.9% | 3,483 | 0 |
| Kasich, John | 1.9% | 3,473 | 0 |
| Huckabee, Mike | 1.8% | 3,344 | 0 |
| Christie, Chris | 1.8% | 3,278 | 0 |
| Santorum, Rick | 1.0% | 1,783 | 0 |
| Other | 0.1% | 119 | 0 |
| Gilmore, Jim | 0.0% | 12 | 0 |
It wasn't a good night for former caucus winners, 2008 Iowa Caucus winner Mike Huckabee, who announced the suspension of his campaign after hes received only 1.8% of the vote. Meanwhile the 2012 Caucus Winner Rick Santorum got only 1%, but is staying in the race.It was a disappointing night for many candidates with scrambling to find a bit of victory. For Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky it was that he finished ahead of four sitting Governors, while he received only 4.5% of the vote and came in 5th, it doesn’t say a lot for those he did finish a head of!Others skipped out of Iowa early, some not even staying in the state for the results. This included Jeb Bush and Carly Florina who headed off to New Hampshire early to attend “A full schedule of events” ahead of next Tuesday’s primary.The big loser here will most definitely be seen as Trump. Losing here to Cruz will be a blow to his campaign. The Trump bubble has been burst, but how long will it take it deflate? He conceded amicably to Cruz in his speech at a campaign party in Des Moines, but this has certainly sapped the momentum ahead of New Hampshire and South Carolina.Of course the real winner in Iowa may well be the young Senator from Florida Marco Rubio, who will definitely be hoping that this result will see him as the candidate most likely to defeat Trump and take on the Democrats in November.For the Democrats the race for delegates came to a coin toss in at least two precinct caucuses. Secretary Hillary Clinton was deemed the winner of both. In the state-wide vote, this was mirrored with a statistical tie between Hillary Clinton and her opponent and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders each on 49% of the vote.
| Candidate | % Delegates | County Convention Delegates | Projected Convention Delegates |
| Clinton, Hillary | 49.9% | 696 | 28 |
| Sanders, Bernie | 49.6% | 692 | 21 |
| O’Malley, Martin | 0.6% | 8 | 0 |
| Uncommitted | 0.0% | 0 | 2 |
Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley suspended his long-shot campaign following the Caucus.Clinton did manage to bag more delegates then Saunders, which at the end of the day is what will decide how convention delegates will vote at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. She will be aided by the fact that 6 of the 8 Super delegates from Iowa are backing her.The 8 County Convention delegates elected for O’Malley will be hotly contested between now and the County Conventions on March 12th, as Clinton and Sanders will make a play for his endorsement. They may be able to swing a vote for a District Convention Delegate depending on the distribution of the delegates from the precincts.All eyes now swing to New Hampshire which holds the First in the Nation Primary next Tuesday. This will be the real test for many camps. Will Cruz and Rubio gain following on from Iowa? Will Trump fall at the second hurdle? Can Clinton survive a defeat here to come back in South Carolina on February 27th? Or will victory in New Hampshire give Bernie the “Big Mo”?
Stephen Spillane is a political activist & writer. For more fromStephen, you can check out his personal blog on Facebook.