‘‘The gap between his promises four years ago and his performance is as great as anything I've ever seen in my life,’’ he told supporters in Iowa’s capital city.
The narrow margin, out of more than 122,000 straw poll ballots cast, was a fitting conclusion to a race as jumbled as any since Iowa gained the lead-off position in presidential campaigns four decades ago.
Texas Rep. Ron Paul ran third and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich was fourth. Both men vowed to carry the fight to New Hampshire’s primary next week and beyond.
Not so Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who came in fifth and told supporters he would return home to reassess his candidacy.
Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann was a distant sixth, and her campaign appeared in disarray. She told reporters she would carry on — less than an hour after her campaign manager raised doubts in an Associated Press interview about whether she would stay in the race.
Romney is heavily favored in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary on Jan. 10. South Carolina on Jan. 21 figures to be a tougher test, the first contest in the South and a state that is part of the Republican political base.
Already, the top two finishers in Iowa were staking out their turf.Officials said Romney would receive an endorsement in the morning from Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who twice won the New Hampshire primary and was the GOP presidential nominee in 2008.
Santorum said that was to be expected, and jabbed at his rival.
‘‘John is a more moderate member of the Republican team, and I think he fits in with Mitt’s view of the world,’’ he said.
Returns from 1,772 of 1,774 precincts showed both Santorum and Romney with 24.5 percent and Paul with 21.5. Santorum had 29,944 votes, Romney had 29,926 and Paul 26,163.
Gingrich had 13 percent, followed by Perry at 10 percent and Bachmann with 5 percent.
No matter how close the final results in Iowa, there were no plans for a recount.
