Voters debate during a caucus at precinct 42 near Smithland, Iowa on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Dave Weaver)

(CNSNews.com) – Mitt Romney won the Iowa Republican caucuses overnight, edging out Rick Santorum in a dramatic contest that saw the two presidential hopefuls run virtually neck-and-neck all night. In the end, Romney took the race by eight votes.

By 11 PM eastern time, with nine out of ten precincts reporting, the former Pennsylvania senator had led the former Massachusetts governor by 0.1 percent. At midnight, the two were in a dead heat, at 24.6 percent each.

Once 98.6 percent of precincts' results were in, Santorum was leading by a mere five votes. By the time 99.5 percent of results were reported, that tiny lead had grown to 34. When the final tally came in, however, Romney was reported to have won by eight votes – 30,015 to Santorum’s 30,007.

Taking third place, with 3,788 votes behind Santorum, was Texas Rep. Ron Paul, at 21.4 percent.

Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, speaks at his caucus night rally in Des Moines, Iowa, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

After taking a significant very early lead (when only a single digit percentage of precincts were reporting), Paul then remained locked in a tight race with Santorum and Romney, only slipping a couple of percentage points as the evening progressed.

The rest of the field kept their respective order for most of the night, and their final tallies were former House Speaker Newt Gingrich 13.2; Texas Gov. Rick Perry 10.3; Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann 5.0; and former Utah governor Jon Huntsman (who was not competing in Iowa) 0.6

Romney's showing was similar to that of four years ago, when he took 25 percent of the Iowa vote, losing to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Between them, Santorum, Romney or Paul took first place in every Iowa county with the exception of Taylor and Union counties in the south, where Perry won.

The Republican campaign moves on to primaries in New Hampshire on Jan. 10, followed by those in South Carolina on Jan. 21 and in Florida at the end of the month.