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Ron Paul had a better showing in the Iowa caucuses then most people expected. He received 10% of the vote which was enough to gain two delegates from that state. It was also nearly triple Rudy Giuliani’s numbers.   

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Mitt Romney comes out the clear winner with Giuliani and McCain virtually no where to be seen. It is interesting to see the large number of ’second’ and ‘third-tier’ candidates so close to the top.

McCain is 10th on the list of 11 receiving more votes than only John Cox. Giuliani is 8th doing better than only Duncan Hunter and the two aforementioned candidates.

Dark horse candidate Ron Paul came in at a slightly disappointing 5th place getting beaten by Romney, Huckabee, Brownback and Tancredo.

It is worth noting that five out of the top six candidates are not the so-called ‘front-runners’ of the race and number seven is Fred Thompson who is not officially running.

Maybe the country, or at least the Iowa Republican Party, is starting to look at the less popular candidates more seriously.

It is also worth noting that there was a fee to enter the convention to cast a ballot.

Here are the official results from littlegreenfootballs.com:

1. Mitt Romney - 4516 votes, 31%
2. Mike Huckabee - 2587 votes, 18.1%
3. Sam Brownback - 2192 votes, 15.3%
4. Tom Tancredo - 1961 votes, 13.7%
5. Ron Paul - 1305 votes, 9.1%
6. Tommy Thompson - 1,009 votes, 7.3%
7. Fred Thompson - 231 votes
8. Rudy Giuliani - 183 votes
9. Duncan Hunter - 174 votes
10. John McCain - 101 votes
11. John Cox - 41 votes

The Iowans love him! Romney tries to pull a Giuliani and says, “Has he forgotten about 9/11,” but Paul sticks his finger up saying, “Just a moment,” and continues on with his answer.

Read the article here.

Iowans for Tax Relief and Iowa Christian Alliance will host a presidential candidates forum on Saturday, June 30th in Des Moines.  Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Sam Brownback, Jim Gilmore, Mike Huckabee, Tommy Thompson, and Tom Tancredo will participate.

Ron Paul, however, will not participate.  Why?  Because he wasn’t invited.

Ron Paul 2008 chairman John Snyder was interviewed by Jan Mickelson of WHO News Radio 1040 in Des Moines about the incident.  Jan Mickelson of WHO News Radio 1040 in Des Moines.  Get the MP3 here (right-click save as).  The interview starts at 1:01:16.