Santorum the New Winner of the Iowa Caucuses

The Des Moines Register reported this morning that a new vote tally effectively eviscerated Mitt Romney's narrow lead in the primary. It notes:

There are too many holes in the certified totals from the Iowa caucuses to know for certain who won, but Rick Santorum wound up with a 34-vote advantage.

Results from eight precincts are missing — any of which could hold an advantage for Mitt Romney — and will never be recovered and certified, Republican Party of Iowa officials said Wednesday.

GOP officials discovered inaccuracies in 131 precincts, although not all the changes affected the two leaders. Changes in one precinct alone shifted the vote by 50 — a margin greater than the certified tally.

The certified vote totals from Jan. 3 caucuses will be formally released by the Iowa Republican Party Thursday morning.

No doubt the punditocracy will declare the Iowa primary null and void now that the most establishment candidate did  not win.