Mitt Romney declares victory -- for himself, Santorum and Paul

Tuesday night was tense at Mitt Romney’s caucus night party, as hundreds of supporters stood in a stuffy ballroom for hours, their eyes glued to a large screen showing Fox News’ running tally of the caucus results. The crowd would burst into cheers every time Romney shot into a slim lead, and grow silent or groan when Santorum overtook him.

“It’s stressful,” said Eric Holdmeyer, 33, of Adel, who was heartened to see Romney briefly overtake Santorum as the former senator from Pennsylvania spoke.

The logistics consultant said he was trying to remind himself that there were many more competitions before the GOP will decide its nominee. “This is just the beginning of all the caucuses and primaries,” he said.

LIVE COVERAGE: Iowa GOP caucuses

Hundreds waited to hear Romney speak, which he did for about 10 minutes shortly before midnight, declaring the night a victory for himself, Santorum and Ron Paul.

“We don’t know what the final vote tally is going to be, but congratulations to Rick Santorum. This has been a great victory for him and his effort,” said Romney, accompanied by his wife, Ann, and four of his five sons. “He’s worked very hard in Iowa. We also feel it has been a great victory for us here. Ron Paul, Ron Paul as well, Ron Paul had a great night.”

Romney noted that he had a much slimmer campaign machine in Iowa in his current presidential bid than his unsuccessful effort four years ago.

He said the night would kick off a furious round of campaigning among the three front-runners.

“I think it’s great here in the heartland of America that a campaign begins. All three of us will be campaigning very hard to make sure we restore the heart and soul of this great nation,” Romney said. “This is a campaign night where America wins. We’re going to change the White House and get America back on track.”

Romney may have been planning to give a different speech – teleprompters were initially set up and then taken down, and Romney ended up delivering a shortened version of his standard stump speech, ignoring his GOP rivals and declaring President Obama an abject failure in dealing with the nation’s problems both foreign and domestic.

“On to New Hampshire,” Romney concluded. “Let’s get that job done. Come visit us there, we’ve got some work ahead.”