Big win for anti-gay candidate in Iowa

Anti-gay Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum has emerged as one of the big winners at yesterday’s Iowa caucuses.

The state poll for registered Republican voters is the first in a series across the US that will eventually select a challenger to face Barack Obama in the US election this year.

Santorum, a senator from the US state of Pennsylvania, wound up in a virtual tie with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, with Romney only eight votes ahead at the final count.

While Romney edged ahead, the poll is recognised mainly as a test of potential candidacy in future state primaries rather than a ‘first-past-the-post’ style of election.

Santorum was largely seen as an outside chance until the week leading up to the Iowa vote, but many political pundits have put Santorum’s surprise victory down to luck.

Each Republican hopeful has experienced a period of popularity during the lead-up to the Republican primaries, with Santorum’s surge happening to translate into votes during a week of intense interest in the social conservative’s campaign.

Santorum has a long history of anti-gay statements and has consistently argued that mutually consenting adults do not have a constitutional right to privacy with respect to sexual acts.

He has compared same-sex unions to polygamy, incest and bestiality, and stated that relationships outside monogamous heterosexual unions threaten society and the family.

During his Iowa campaign, he pledged to annul all same-sex marriages if elected president and has been a strong advocate for reintroducing the ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ US military policy.

Another notoriously anti-gay Republican candidate, Michele Bachmann, had less success in Iowa, finishing in sixth place, and this morning announced she was ending her campaign

The conservative Minnesota congresswoman, who previously defined homosexuality as “part of Satan” and runs a Christian counselling service with her husband that offers ‘reparative therapy’, said she was looking forward to the next chapter in “God’s plan”.

“Last night the people of Iowa spoke with a very clear voice and so I have decided to stand aside,” she said.