Romney, Santorum, Paul Lead Early Iowa Caucus Returns

Des Moines, Iowa - On Tuesday night, 2012 Republican presidential candidates faced voters for the first time at the Iowa caucuses, and entrance polls showed a close three-way race between Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum.

Romney has by far the most money of all the candidates, and he also has the strongest national organization. Two other candidates who threatened Romney in those key categories -- Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry -- have fallen by the wayside.

Still, Perry continued to campaign hard on Tuesday night, asking voters to give him a chance to unseat President Barack Obama.

"I'll take out a Sharpie and with an executive order, wipe out as much Obamacare as I can with my signature and then have the men and women in the Congress get rid of the rest of it," Perry said.

Among the many quirks of the Iowa voting system is the lack of a secret ballot. Voters simply fill out their ballots in public.

The next step in the process is next Tuesday, when New Hampshire holds its primary. There, Mitt Romney is the favorite. The next real showdown after that is South Carolina.