Iowa caucus

Not exactly a live blogging of the event, just watching the numbers as they come in.  As of 8:30 central time, 21% of the votes are in, and Ron Paul has a slight lead.   The top three are bunched tightly in this order Paul, Santorum, Romney.  There's not that much space between them.

This updates every two minutes, and now they are all virtually tied, with 24% in.

Update:

30% votes in, still very tight.  Romney has a slight lead, 50 votes.

Update:

45% votes in, Santorum now on top with a slight lead, Romney behind by 150 votes or so, Paul falling behind a bit (3%)  Will update when the numbers move more.

Update:

53% of the vote, and Santorum is ahead by 400 votes.  Gingrich will finish no higher than 4th, ditto for Perry.
Bachmann is 6th, Huntsman last.

Just new coming in, Santorum maintains lead.  Nothing changing much.

Update:

87% of the vote in and it has tightened considerably.  Santorum is still ahead, but Romney is nipping at his heels.  The rest of the field remains the same.

Update:

92% of the vote in.  It seems to be coming in slowly for some reason.  Santorum is ahead.  The lead has switched back and forth between Romney and Santorum.  Paul will finish third unless there's a miracle.  The field is pretty much set except for the winner, and it will be close.  Perhaps there won't be any clearcut winner.

Update:

95% in and it is still close--- Santorum ahead by a hundred votes or so.  Some people say this was just a beauty contest.  From what I observed, I'd say that it was like a regular election, but a little less formal.  Anyway, I think I'll update one more time before I quit.

Update:

At 98% and now Romney is ahead.  By my estimation, there are only a couple thousand votes left to count.  Either of the candidates can still win as only 50  votes separate them.

The outcome is not what I would have liked.  The significant thing may be that Romney can't get much above 25%.  It will be interesting to see if he can begin to do better than that in the future races.  New Hampshire, most likely, but down the road a little further is what I had in mind.

Good night, everyone.