Race for Obama's post starts in Iowa; Romney wins Round 1

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney defeated Rick Santorum at the party's Iowa caucus in a closely-contested primary race.

This is the first vote for the 2012 battle, kicking off the primary season for Barack Obama's challengers.

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The Republican's Iowa caucus vote had a very close finish with former Massachusetts Governor Romney beating former Pennsylvania Senator Santorum by eight votes while Texas Congressman Ron Paul came a close third.

From Iowa, the Republican primaries will head to New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida. If the first vote is anything to go by, the overall race might well be headed for a photo finish.

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With 93 per cent of counties reporting, Santorum and Romney had almost 25 per cent of the votes each, with fewer than 100 votes separating them.

Paul, on the other hand, ranked third in this race of seven Republican presidential candidates with 21 per cent of the vote.

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Former Speaker of the US House of Representatives Newt Gingrich and Texas Governor Rick Perry had taken fourth and fifth slots respectively, while Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman were at the bottom of the heap.

The Iowa Caucus kicks off the months-long process to select the Republican presidential nominee to challenge Obama in the November presidential elections.

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More than 100,000 Iowans were expected to cast ballots at 809 caucus sites, representing 1,774 precincts throughout Iowa.

ABC News estimated that the turnout for the Iowa caucus was around 123,000, a record for the state.