US elections 2012: why Barack Obama won in Iowa again But nagging doubts remain for the former Massachusetts governor. Iowa voters have had four years to get to know him better since he last competed in the state, but his percentage of the vote was exactly the same as when he lost to Mike Huckabee in 2008. His campaign will be anxious about whether or not he can expand his share of the vote above that the 25 percent mark anywhere apart from New Hampshire, which neighbours his home state, and Michigan, where his father was once governor. Given the three-way split in the Republican vote, the biggest winner was perhaps not even competing: President Barack Obama. Four years after his historical victory there in the Democratic caucuses that propelled him towards the White House, he has triumphed once more. Iowa's results suggested there is a three-way tug of war in the party between moderates, evangelicals and libertarians that will drag out the contest. Mr Romney will probably grind his way towards the nomination, he will not be a popular choice, just as John McCain was a begrudging selection in 2008 and ran a poor campaign. A nominee with lacklustre support will mean a lack of enthusiasm among the party faithful that could depress the Republican vote in what will be a tight race in November. White House strategists have already keenly noted in Politico that Romney only won 13 percent of Iowa voters earning less than $50,000 a year - the white middle and lower middle class who will be crucial in swing states such as Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa and the Florida panhandle. He also lost to Ron Paul by four to one among independent voters, a key group that Mr Obama hopes to win back after courting them so successfully four years ago. At Ron Paul rallies in Iowa there has often been a smattering of people who voted for Obama last time but have become dismayed with him and turned on by Mr Paul's anti-war, anti-Washington message - two themes that worked so well for the president in 2008. Without Dr Paul on the ticket then some say they would reluctantly vote again for the Democrat rather than a country lub Republican like Romney. Despite Mr Santorum's spectacular late surge, the White House remains convinced that his unsympathetic rhetoric towards gays, supporters of abortion and anyone outside a nuclear family makes him unelectable. They may be underestimating his appeal to the white working class, but they know he is not the most inspiring of stump speakers. He was furthermore the candidate of last resort for conservatives in Iowa. Before they dusted off and inspected him, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich had been inspected and pretty quickly jettisoned. The president will furthermore have close to $1 billion in his war chest and rhetorical skills that will be the envy of whoever his Republican opponent is. Given the parlous state of the economy and Obama's leadership failings, the battle of the White House will be close, but last night did nothing to contradict the notion that the president will end up a narrow winner.