Former Massachusetts governor Romney narrowly won the first vote by US Republican party supporters in Iowa, finishing just eight votes ahead of former senator Rick Santorum.
Romney is Iowa’s technical winner, but Santorum, who finished nail-bitingly close, is likely to claim he is the chosen conservative alternative to Romney.
Amusingly for Republican detractors, Rick Santorum is for many a figure of mirth. In 2003 he told the Associated Press: “If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual [gay] sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery.”
His ant-gay comments were picked up by sex columnist and gay rights activist Dan Savage, who began a campaign to associate Santorum’s surname with a sexual innuendo.
The results of Savage’s Google-bombing campaign are that a search for ‘Santorum’ now yields as its top result the following definition of Santorum: “1. The frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex. 2. Senator Rick Santorum.”
Yesterday’s contest were the first time voters had their say in who will capture the Republican presidential nomination. It begins months of caucuses and primary elections in the US, that will culminate in the Republican National Convention in August where the party nominee will be formally appointed.
