Iowa GOP Finally Declares Santorum Caucus Winner

The Iowa Caucuses managed one last gasp of news late Friday night: Rick Santorum has been declared the winner.

On Tuesday, two weeks after the Jan. 3 vote seemed to end with Mitt Romney the winner, Santorum was pronounced the winner of certified tallies. Iowa GOP officials had spent two weeks checking vote counts to find that results changed in 131 precincts around the state and votes from eight precincts were never turned in.

So the certified results gave Santorum the win, but Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn wouldn't declare the former Pennsylvania Senator the outright winner, telling the press that wasn't his place.

While Santorum used the flip-flop in vote totals to declare himself the Iowa winner during CNN's candidate debate in South Carolina Thursday, his supporters were displeased with how Iowa GOP leaders handled the winner/loser status.

Here's the full text of the Iowa GOP's news release sent out late Friday night:

In order to clarify conflicting reports and to affirm the results released January 18 by the Republican Party of Iowa, Chairman Matthew Strawn and the State Central Committee declared Senator Rick Santorum the winner of the 2012 Iowa Caucus.

Patch Coverage of Thursday's Vote Tallies

A messy, drawn-out finish to the Iowa Caucus appears to wrap up on Thursday with Rick Santorum leap-frogging Mitt Romney into first place after changes in 131 precincts and the exclusion of votes from the conclusion of eight precincts.

After a Caucus night that would not end because of missing precincts, the certification process was equally problematic. Iowa Republican party officials say they don't trust the results from those precincts and they will never be certified.

The final totals swung an eight-vote win for to a 34-vote margin in favor of Santorum, according to a certified vote released on Thursday morning. The final tally gives the former Pennsylvania Senator Santorum a win with 29,839 ballots over 29,805 for former Massachusetts Governor Romney.

"There is no question in our mind that the winner of the certified vote totals was Rick Santorum. Those are the numbers as certified during the two week required certification period," Iowa GOP chairman Matt Strawn told reporters at a news conference at GOP headquarters in Des Moines today.

Check here for from throughout Thursday.