Did Mitt Romney win a crucial US presidential night by just 8 votes?

US presidential candidate Mitt Romney moved one step closer to challenging Barack Obama later this year after one of the slimmest election victories in history last night.

The former Massachusetts governor edged out a resurgent Rick Santorum to win the Iowa caucuses by just eight votes. In the first night of voting to ultimately decide the Republican candidate for the US presidential race, Romney received 30,015 votes to Santorum's 30,007 with the latter's achievement of visiting all 99 Iowa states paying healthy dividends.

Outside of the big two, strong libertarian Ron Paul finished in a healthy third place with 26,219 votes, while early contenders Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann both saw their campaigns crash and burn. Newt Gingrich, the overall favourite in the field just a month ago, also seen his previously favourable status dwindle overnight.

The field of candidates' next move is to New Hampshire, a state which last night's seventh-placed candidate Jon Huntsman is banking his campaign on, having dismissed Iowa previously by stating: "Iowa picks corn, New Hampshire picks presidents."

Currently Romney holds a two-digit lead over his rivals in the state but he could find that Santorum and Paul's impressive showings last night may eat into his current favourite tag. Certainly, Santorum's emboldened followers believe so.

"Game on!" roared a thrilled Santorum in a lively speech last night following his success at the polls. "Thank you so much, Iowa, for standing up and not compromising, by standing up and being bold. You have taken the first step toward taking back this country."

Should Barack Obama be worried? With a surprisingly low turn-out in Iowa, perhaps not.