2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide, Pre-trial court appearances, Arraignment and hearings
Luc was arraigned on five counts of murder with special circumstances of multiple murders and lying in wait, five counts of robbery, and one count of burglary before Judge Samuel Feng of the San Francisco County Superior Court on April 5, 2012. He pleaded not guilty to all charges, but otherwise did not speak. His bail was set at $25 million, and his next court appearance was set for May 3 at which time a hearing date would be decided.


2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide, Pre-trial court appearances, Arraignment and hearings
Feng stated that he was "not comfortable" with granting bail, but Sharon Woo of the District Attorney's Office responded that because the investigation was still in its early stages, the prosecution was not yet prepared to offer sufficient evidence to meet the standard of "likely guilt" required to deny bail. Additionally, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) placed an immigration detainer on Luc, such that even if he were to make bail, he would be released into ICE custody rather than being freed. In late June 2012, Luc's brother was sentenced on unrelated drug charges.


2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide, Pre-trial court appearances, Arraignment and hearings
Luc appeared in court again on July 20, 2012. He continued to be represented by Mark Goldrosen. Feng announced that Luc's trial would be held on October 25, and then adjourned the hearing. Goldrosen explained the delay by stating that the investigation was still ongoing and that both the prosecution and the defense needed time to review witness statements and evidence. He also stated that his Luc was in good health and had received a visit from his parents. By January 2013, Luc's case had still not gone to trial.


2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide, Pre-trial court appearances, Arraignment and hearings
A pre-trial hearing held before Judge Jerome Benson on January 15 resulted only in another court date being set for March 19, nearly a year after the date of the deaths, because a police report was not yet complete. At the hearing on March 19, Judge Benson had been expected to set a date for a preliminary hearing, but instead defense lawyers again stated that they needed more time to review evidence, and so the hearing was set to continue on May 3. In Luc's court appearance on May 30, the preliminary hearing was again delayed until July 30.


2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide, Pre-trial court appearances, Arraignment and hearings
By December 2013, the preliminary hearing still had not been held; in Luc's court appearance that month, the judge set the new date for the preliminary hearing to February 14, 2014. Afterwards, the date was further pushed back to April 11, June 18, and then July 17. On July 17, Luc did not appear in court due to illness; the court set dates of October 16 for the status conference and November 17 for the preliminary hearing. The preliminary hearing finally began on March 16, 2015, and concluded in June.


2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide, Trial and sentencing
Luc's trial was initially scheduled to begin in March 2016, but prosecutors requested delays in order to have more time to review evidence. Luc's trial finally began on October 10, 2017, before Judge Carol Yaggy. Luc was ultimately charged with two counts of burglary rather than the original one count, as the house consisted of two separate residential units each with their own entrance: the upstairs portion for the elder slain couple Hua Shun Lei and Wan Yi Xu and their daughter Jess Lei, the downstairs portion for the younger slain couple Vincent Lei and Chia Huei Chu.


2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide, Trial and sentencing
In opening statements, prosecutor Eric Fleming of the District Attorney's Office emphasized physical evidence linking Luc to the crime scene, including Luc's fingerprint on a bottle of Windex found at the scene and the blood of the victims found in Luc's car and on a pair of jeans at Luc's home, and suggested that efforts to destroy evidence at the scene by disassembling the sinks in order to flood the house would have required plumbing experience to carry out.


2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide, Trial and sentencing
Mark Goldrosen's defense of Luc focused on the prosecution's failure to advance a plausible motive for the killings, and on leads which the police failed to follow due to their focus on Luc, such as a report by an informant that a Chinatown gang leader had ordered the killings and DNA samples which had not been tested. Goldrosen stated that while Luc was present at the scene, another person masterminded and carried out the killings.


2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide, Trial and sentencing
The prosecution presented DNA evidence in court on October 17, while a forensic examiner testified on October 24. In the fourth week of the trial, the six police officers who initially investigated the scene testified. Both direct examination and cross-examination focused on several thousand dollars of cash left at the scene. Closing arguments began on November 28, and continued for another day. Fleming suggested that Luc was motivated by money, noting that he had suffered losses while gambling at Artichoke Joe's Casino, while Goldrosen reiterated that the evidence "strongly suggests there was more than one person involved". Jury deliberation then began on Monday, December 5, after court holidays due to the long weekend for Thanksgiving. After five days of deliberation, the jury still had not reached a verdict, a fact which Goldrosen attributed to the complexity of the case.


2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide, Trial and sentencing
On December 11, the jury found Luc guilty of five counts of murder, five counts of attempted robbery, and two counts of burglary, but acquitted him on the charges of robbery. District Attorney Gascón expressed satisfaction with the verdict, stating that "we’re pleased we’re getting some accountability for the family and for the community", while Goldrosen stated that other individuals involved in the killings were still at large and that Luc "understands that this is the beginning of the process and there are appellate procedures".


2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide, Trial and sentencing
On March 1, 2018, Yaggy ordered that Luc serve five back-to-back life sentences, overriding an objection by Goldrosen who had requested concurrent sentences. Prosecutor David Merin, who took over the case from Fleming after Luc's sentencing, presented the victim impact statement on behalf of the victims' family member Nicole Lei, who stated that it was too painful for her to attend the sentencing. Luc did not speak during sentencing, except to state to his lawyer that he wished to appeal. He was admitted to California State Prison, Corcoran to begin serving his sentence on March 7, 2018.


2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide, Appeal
Luc appealed his convictions to the California First District Court of Appeal, citing grounds for reversal of each conviction, as well as other issues regarding restitution fines and sentencing. The appellate panel consisted of presiding judge Stuart R. Pollak, Jon B. Streeter, and Alison M. Tucher. In the unanimous opinion, Pollak ruled that the first ground of appeal, an amendment to California's felony murder statute following Luc's conviction, was non-cognizable on appeal and that Luc should instead raise the issue in a petition for relief in the trial court.


2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide, Appeal
Secondly, Luc challenged jury instructions regarding criminal liability for aiding and abetting murder, but Pollak found that the instructions were a correct statement of law. Luc further raised evidential deficiencies in the murder and attempted robbery convictions; Pollak disallowed this ground of appeal in relation to the murder convictions, but allowed it in relation to three of the five original attempted robbery convictions, stating that the evidence only supported that Luc had attempted to rob Vincent Lei and his wife, but not the other three murder victims whose bedrooms Luc did not enter.


2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide, Appeal
The fifth portion of Luc's appeal argued that the two counts of burglary should be reduced to a single count, characterizing the crime scene as consisting of a single residential unit, but Pollak upheld the two separate convictions, pointing to facts such as the separate entrances of the downstairs and upstairs portions of the house to rule that inhabitants of the former had a separate "reasonable expectation of privacy" from the latter.


2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide, Appeal
Finally, Pollak accepted Luc's argument for remand to the trial court for resentencing, as an amendment to mandatory sentencing provisions of the California Penal Code following Luc's conviction would allow the trial judge to disregard Luc's prior felony conviction in deciding whether or not to impose a five-year enhancement to Luc's sentence.


2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide, Deportation issues, Treaty and case law
In 1998, Binh Thai Luc was convicted of second-degree robbery and assault with a firearm for holding up a Chinese restaurant and a clothing wholesaler in San Jose in 1996. He served eight years of an eleven-year prison sentence at San Quentin State Prison before being released early on August 10, 2006 into U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and sent to the Eloy Detention Center in Arizona pending an appearance in immigration court. The following month, an immigration judge ordered that Luc be deported from the United States.


2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide, Deportation issues, Treaty and case law
In the end, Luc could not be deported because the government of Vietnam refused to issue a travel document to allow him to be re-admitted to that country. Luc moved from his native Vietnam to the U.S. as a legal immigrant in 1989. However, Vietnam did not have a repatriation agreement with the United States at all at the time of Luc's deportation proceedings, and even under the subsequently-signed 2008 U.S.–Vietnam repatriation agreement, Vietnam is only required to accept deportees who arrived in the U.S. after the 1995 resumption of relations.


2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide, Deportation issues, Treaty and case law
University of San Francisco law professor Bill Hing stated that this restriction exists because the Vietnamese government believes that Vietnamese who went to the U.S. before that date – primarily refugees from communism – are "products of the United States", and their criminal acts are not Vietnam's responsibility. Due to the 2001 Supreme Court ruling in Zadvydas v. Davis, Luc could not be detained indefinitely either, and was released from ICE custody after 180 days.


2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide, Deportation issues, Political responses
Politicians responded to the news of Luc's arrest with calls for post-prison restrictions on criminals who could not be deported. San Francisco mayor Ed Lee requested that the federal government consider ways of preventing undeportable felons from moving back to the areas where they had committed their original crimes, while various Congressional Republicans called for the passage of legislation addressing the situation.


2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide, Deportation issues, Political responses
Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) wrote a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano on June 1, 2012 expressing concerns about Luc and other foreign nationals who had been ordered deported but continued to live freely in the United States due to Zadvydas v. Davis, and inquiring whether she would support legislation to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 to authorize detention of deportees beyond six months.


2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide, Deportation issues, Political responses
In June 2013, Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) moved  to the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013 to authorize detention of deportees beyond six months when their countries of citizenship refused to readmit them, and gave a floor speech on June 20, 2013 in which he mentioned Luc's case several times as justification. A year later, Grassley, Inhofe, Jeff Sessions (R-AL), David Vitter (R-LA), and Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced the Keep Our Communities Safe Act () for similar purposes; Grassley's press release regarding the act also discussed the allegations against Luc. Subsequent press releases accompanying re-introduction of the Keep Our Communities Safe Act in 2015 () and 2019 () also discussed Luc's case, decrying what Grassley, Inhofe, and their co-sponsors described as the "catch and release loophole" created by Zadvydas, which had allowed Luc to remain free in the United States.


2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide, Deportation issues, Political responses
Representative Ted Poe (R-TX) proposed broader measures: he gave floor speeches on March 27 and July 10, 2012 calling for the passage of the Deport Foreign Convicted Criminals Act () he had introduced on October 25, 2011, which provides for denial of immigrant and non-immigrant visas to nationals of countries which "refused or unreasonably delayed repatriation" of deportees; in each speech, he referred to Luc and stated that Vietnam and other countries "who fail to take back their lawfully deported criminals" should face consequences. He further brought up Luc's case in remarks to Napolitano on July 19 when she appeared before the House Committee on the Judiciary.


2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide, Deportation issues, Political responses
After Vietnamese prime minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc's May 2017 visit to the White House to meet with U.S. president Donald Trump, the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi and the Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs formed a working group and held discussions in July 2017 regarding Vietnamese in the United States to whom Vietnam had refused to issue travel documents for deportation due to the 2008 repatriation agreement.


2012 Ingleside, San Francisco homicide, Deportation issues, Political responses
The deportation issue rose to prominence again following Luc's conviction, which came less than two weeks after the controversial acquittal of an undocumented immigrant in another San Francisco homicide case, the shooting of Kathryn Steinle. In response to the news of Luc's conviction, conservative commentators including Terence P. Jeffrey and Mark Krikorian wrote columns condemning the Zadvydas decision.


2012 Intercity Football League
The 2012 Intercity Football League was the sixth season of the Intercity Football League since its establishment in 2007. Taipower FC were the defending champions, having won the league for the 3rd time last season.


2012 Intercity Football League
The league was decided on the last day of the season. Despite losing 1-0 to Tatung FC, Taipower FC clinched their 4th league title due to their superior goal difference, and in doing so qualified for the 2013 AFC President's Cup.


2012 Intercontinental Rally Challenge
The 2012 Intercontinental Rally Challenge was the seventh and final season of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. The season again consisted of thirteen rounds and started on 23 February with the Rallye Açores. The season ended on 3 November, at the Cyprus Rally.


2012 Intercontinental Rally Challenge, Calendar
The calendar consisted of thirteen events run in Europe. The schedule included five new events, which were held in Sicily, Bulgaria, Ireland, Romania and San Marino.


2012 International Bernese Ladies Cup
The 2012 International Bernese Ladies Cup was held from January 13 to 15 at the Curlingbahn Allmend in Bern, Switzerland as part of the 2011–12 World Curling Tour. The winning team of Michèle Jäggi took home the event purse of CHF20,000. The event was held in a triple-knockout format.


2012 International Bernese Ladies Cup
For the first time, a spot in the Cup was awarded to the winner of the 2011 Curl Atlantic Championship, Suzanne Birt of Prince Edward Island, Canada.


2012 International Challenge Cup
The 2012 International Challenge Cup was held from March 8 to 12, 2012 at the Uithof in The Hague. Skaters competed in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles on the senior, junior, novice, and pre-novice "Debs" levels, and pair skating at the junior level only.


2012 International Challenge Cup
The International Challenge Cup was held for the first time since 2009, as the previous year's event had been canceled.


2012 International Championship
The 2012 International Championship was a professional ranking snooker tournament that took place between 28 October and 4 November 2012 at the Sichuan International Tennis Center in Chengdu, China. It was the fourth ranking event of the 2012/2013 season. It was named as the "first overseas 'major'", as the tournament had the same level of ranking points as the UK Championship.


2012 International Championship
Judd Trump won the third ranking title of his career by defeating Neil Robertson 10–8 in the final. Trump also became the world number one as a result of reaching the final.


2012 International Championship, Prize fund
The breakdown of prize money for this year is shown below:


2012 International Championship, Wildcard round
These matches were played in Chengdu on 28 and 29 October 2012.


2012 International Championship, Qualifying
These matches took place between 19 and 22 August 2012 at the World Snooker Academy in Sheffield, England.


2012 International GT Open
The 2012 International GT Open season was the seventh season of the International GT Open, the grand tourer-style sports car racing founded in 2006 by the Spanish GT Sport Organización. It began on 28 April at Portimão and finished on 4 November, at Circuit de Catalunya after eight double-header meetings.


2012 International GT Open
The season was won by AF Corse drivers Gianmaria Bruni and Federico Leo, who raced on the Ferrari F458 GT Italia. They also won the Super GT standings. Michael Dalle Stelle and Daniel Zampieri, who raced behind the wheel of Kessel Racing's Ferrari F458 Italia GT3 won the GTS class.


2012 International GTSprint Series
The 2012 International GTSprint Series season was the third year of the International GTSprint Series. The season began at Monza on 1 April and finished at Pergusa on 28 October. Andrea Palma won the championship, driving a Ferrari.


2012 International GTSprint Series, Calendar and results
The Pergusa round was to be held in Portimão on 16 September, but it was canceled on 30 June.


2012 International GTSprint Series, Championship Standings, Drivers' championship
† - Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 50% of the race distance.


2012 International German Open
The 2012 International German Open (also known as the bet–at–home Open – German Tennis Championships 2012 for sponsorship reasons) was a men's tennis tournament played on outdoor red clay courts. It was the 106th edition of the event known that year as the International German Open and was part of the ATP World Tour 500 series of the 2012 ATP World Tour. It took place at the Am Rothenbaum in Hamburg, Germany, from 16 July through 22 July 2012. Third-seeded Juan Mónaco won the singles title.


2012 International German Open, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 International German Open, Doubles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:


2012 International German Open, Finals, Doubles
David Marrero /  Fernando Verdasco defeated  Rogerio Dutra da Silva /  Daniel Muñoz de la Nava, 6–4, 6–3


2012 International German Open – Doubles
Oliver Marach and Alexander Peya were the defending champions but decided not to participate together. Marach was to partner Daniele Bracciali but withdrew before the tournament, while Peya played alongside Nenad Zimonjić, but lost in the quarterfinals. David Marrero and Fernando Verdasco won the title by beating Rogério Dutra da Silva and Daniel Muñoz de la Nava 6–4, 6–3 in the final.


2012 International German Open – Singles
Gilles Simon was the defending champion, but lost in the second round to Tommy Haas. Haas went to the final, but lost to Juan Mónaco 5–7, 4–6.


2012 International Origin series
The 2012 International Origin series was the second time the rugby league International Origin has been played. It was a two-game series between England and Exiles RL as a follow-up to the 2011 International Origin series. There was a couple of changes in personnel for the Exiles team in 2012, a key change being that former St. Helens coach Daniel Anderson was selected to be the head coach of the Exiles; also, former Exiles captain Danny Buderus went back to Australia following the 2011 season so former New South Wales fullback Brett Hodgson replaced him as captain.


2012 International Origin series, Game 1
England's side consisted of 15 players who had played internationally for England or Great Britain in the past but handed a debut to Wigan Warriors prop Lee Mossop and also Wigan winger Josh Charnley, who was selected after scoring 22 Super League tries in the 2012 season. Also, Wigan forward Gareth Hock was called up for international selection for the first time since being banned for two years for failing a drugs test.


2012 International Origin series, Game 1
The Exiles coach, Daniel Anderson, had originally picked Warrington Wolves fullback Brett Hodgson in his starting line-up but due to an injury he had to call up Hull Kingston Rovers fullback Shannon McDonnell as a replacement the day before the match; also Setaimata Sa was supposed to start in the centre but again due to injury he had to be replaced by Daryl Millard.


2012 International Origin series, Game 1
Wigan Warriors halfback Brett Finch was also supposed to feature but once again injury forced him out of the squad, meaning Wigan teammate Thomas Leuluai had to fill in at stand off whilst Lance Hohaia had to replace injured Michael Monaghan at hooker in the week leading up to the game.


2012 International Origin series, Game 1
Heavy rain caused the match to be a mainly forward-dominated game; however, both sides did try to throw the ball about a bit. The weather caused both teams to knock on a few times in the opening minutes and players from both sides put in some huge tackles with a notable one coming from the Exiles Francis Meli on England's Sam Tomkins. The mistakes continued until the Exiles loose forward David Fa'alogo dropped the ball 35 metres from his own line, giving England possession in the Exiles half. After a solid set in possession, Rangi Chase put a grabber kick through which ricocheted off Scott Dureau's hand and Gareth Hock picked the ball up, dummied Shannon McDonnell and crossed to score the game's first try. Kevin Sinfield added the conversion to put England into an early 6–0 lead.


2012 International Origin series, Game 1
James Roby went close to scoring after 26 minutes as he put a grubber through from 5 metres out and chased it before McDonnell knocked it dead for a drop out. In the resulting set of six, England got themselves to the last tackle, Rangi Chase then put a crossfield kick in from dummy half and centre Carl Ablett knocked it back to Sinfield who's offload gave Danny Tickle a try after barging through Tony Puletua and McDonnell. Sinfield converted to take England into a 12-0 lead.


2012 International Origin series, Game 1
On the next set try scorer Danny Tickle knocked on on his 40-metre line and gifted the Exiles vital possession. After a couple of tackles the Exiles threw the ball wide from right to left going through Thomas Leuluai's hands to Scott Dureau who's cut out pass found winger Francis Meli who only needed to slide in the corner for a try. Dureau couldn't convert the kick from the touchline.


2012 International Origin series, Game 1
England started off well in the second half and the first chance they got at attacking the Exiles line, stand off Rangi Chase nearly dropped it in a spread play however he hung on even after a massive shot from Antonio Kaufusi. In the next play the England side kept the ball alive and kept offloading until they ended up at the other side of the pitch where Kevin Sinfield put in a crossfield kick to the left wing. Exiles winger Joel Monaghan couldn't take the kick and it bounced off his hands into the arms of England star Sam Tomkins who rounded stand off Thomas Leuluai to score in the corner, Sinfield kicked the goal from the touchline to take England into a lead the scores being 18-4.


2012 International Origin series, Game 1
Another mistake from the Exiles, this time from fullback Shannon McDonnell, allowed England vital field position once again. Rob Burrow had a couple of good runs in the resulting set to place England in an attacking position. Sam Tomkins sliced through a gap however some excellent scrambling defence from the Exiles meant that Tomkins had to put a grubber through to Ryan Hall who was only denied a try by some outstanding defence from Thomas Leuluai as Hall crossed the line and knocked on. However, the tackle came at a cost as Exiles captain Leuluai was stretchered off the field with a season-ending ankle injury.


2012 International Origin series, Game 1
In the 60th minute, the Exiles enjoyed four repeat sets on England's line but looked like they couldn't get through to score. However a Lance Hohaia grubber caused problems for Sam Tomkins and he dropped it gifting the Exiles yet another set of six on England's line in the 66th minute, from the resulting set scrum half Scott Dureau grubbered the ball through on the 4th tackle and centre Daryl Millard was first to reach the ball and scored the final try of the game for the Exiles, Dureau added the conversion bringing the score to 18-10 in England's favour. England hooker James Roby was named Man of the Match.


2012 International Origin series, Game 2
Due to a few couple in the England side, players had to pull out including Gareth Hock and Danny Tickle. Jon Wilkin was called into the team as was centre Leroy Cudjoe, enabling Carl Ablett to move into the second row to cover for the injuries. Another main absence was halfback Rangi Chase, who was suspended with full pay by Castleford Tigers but the circumstances are not known so coach Steve McNamara dropped him from the squad and brought in Danny Brough at scrum half.


2012 International Origin series, Game 2
McNamara also rested Sam Tomkins, Ryan Hall, Kevin Sinfield and Sean O'Loughlin as they had club games not long after, so he drafted Stefan Ratchford, Tom Briscoe, Matty Smith and Scott Taylor into the squad to cover and to try out new combinations. Also prop and captain Jamie Peacock announced his retirement from the international game a week before the game so Liam Farrell was brought into the team. Jon Wilkin was named captain for Game 2.


2012 International Origin series, Game 2
The Exiles also made some changes to their team; captain Brett Hodgson recovered from his injury and will captain the side in Game 2. Joel Moon was brought in at centre to allow Sia Soliola to move into the pack where coach Daniel Anderson thinks he will be more effective. Salford City Reds halfback Daniel Holdsworth was given the number 6 jersey to replace injured Thomas Leuluai whilst Bradford Bulls hooker Heath L'Estrange will replace Lance Hohaia at number 9. Tony Puletua and Jeff Lima missed out on the team and Constantine Mika and Kylie Leuluai had to replace them whilst Steve Menzies came in at second row.


2012 International Origin series, Game 2
The game started well for the Exiles as a long ball from Daniel Holdsworth which cut 3 men out allowed Joel Monaghan to break down the right side of the field, Holdsworth backed him up and passed inside to Steve Menzies. However Menzies was about to be tackled before Scott Dureau showed up to take the ball and perform a 360 degree swivel before offloading to Brett Hodgson who darted between 3 England players to score the first try of the game. Hodgson converted his own try to put the Exiles into an early 6-0 lead.


2012 International Origin series, Game 2
England hit back in the 22nd minute, Scott Dureau put in a grubber kick which was fielded easily by Stefan Ratchford. Ratchford was tackled on his own 10m line, Warrington Wolves star Ryan Atkins then scooted from dummy half and evaded the markers to race 90m to score England's first try of the game. Danny Brough managed to kick the goal from a tight angle to level the scores at 6-6. However the Exiles soon regained the lead when stand off Daniel Holdsworth gave an inside ball to Steve Menzies which caught the England defence out.


2012 International Origin series, Game 2
Menzies raced 30m before drawing the fullback in and passing to the supporting Lincoln Withers who had to pass to Scott Dureau to avoid the cover defence. Dureau crossed under the sticks and captain Brett Hodgson converted to give the Exiles a 12-6 lead. England once again hit back with a move which went to the left of the field and back to the right again.


2012 International Origin series, Game 2
Rob Burrow ran across the face of the defence and found Ratchford, he then gave an inside ball to Jon Wilkin, as Wilkin was about to be tackled he quickly offloaded to Danny Brough, Brough ran to the right, isolated the Exiles winger and found Leroy Cudjoe with a cutout pass, he drew the winger in and passed outside to Josh Charnley who raced 25m and stepped inside Brett Hodgson to score a try. This time Danny Brough could not convert the try and the Exiles held onto a 2-point lead.


2012 International Origin series, Game 2
The Exiles extended their lead even further just before the half time hooter. A scrum gave the Exiles vital field position which allowed them to execute a sweeping move to the left of the field with Brett Hodgson delivering the final cut out ball for Joel Monaghan to score in the corner. Hodgson could not convert the difficult kick but the Exiles went into halftime 16-10 up.


2012 International Origin series, Game 2
The Exiles started the second half in the same manner as they ended the first. They got themselves into good field position on the back of a Willie Manu drive. Then they once again executed a sweeping move this time from right to left and Brett Hodgson delivered the final cut-out ball for Francis Meli to score despite Josh Charnley's best efforts. Hodgson could not convert from the touchline but his team were 20-10 up. Soon after the Exiles added to their total.


2012 International Origin series, Game 2
Daniel Holdsworth went close to scoring after reversing the direction of play, captain Brett Hodgson was at dummy half and dived through a gap the markers had left to score his 2nd try of the game, Hodgson also converted to extend the lead to 26-10. England soon hit back with a try of their own though, a good strong run from Carl Ablett got England into the Exile's 10 meter line. After a few drives they tried to execute a sweeping move but Matty Smith was easily cut down.


2012 International Origin series, Game 2
On the next tackle Danny Brough received the ball to the left and threw a cut-out pass for winger Tom Briscoe to score by the narrowest of margins with Joel Monaghan nearly taking him into touch. Brough could not convert and the Exile's still led by 26-14.


2012 International Origin series, Game 2
However their fightback was short lived as 3 minutes later Lincoln Withers ran from dummy half to attract 3 England players to him, Withers then passed the Daniel Holdsworth who skipped through Danny Brough's tackle to race 30m before passing to Francis Meli who had a clear run to the line for his 2nd of the night (this would also take him to 4 International Origin tries making him the leading scorer), he also improved the angle of the kick by scoring underneath the posts. Hodgson converted to take the game to 32-14 and beyond England's reach.


2012 International Origin series, Game 2
England grabbed a consolation try with 4 minutes to go when they ran the ball on the last tackle. Lee Mossop took the ball in and as he was about to be tackled flicked the ball to Stefan Ratchford, he was soon wrapped up but not before he flicked it to Carl Ablett. Ablett brushed aside 2 Exile players before giving a basketball style pass to Leroy Cudjoe who had a clear route to the corner. Brough added the extras to make the final score 32-20 to the Exiles. As the series was drawn, the Exiles were awarded the trophy and declared 2012 International Origin series winners as they won last years series.


2012 International Origin series, Teams, England RL
The England side had many players who have represented either England or Great Britain before, however for Game 1 coach Steve McNamara handed Wigan Warriors duo Josh Charnley and Lee Mossop their senior England debuts after being in great form in the domestic competition. England were without their Australia based players Gareth Widdop, Jack Reed, Chris Heighington, Sam Burgess, Gareth Ellis and James Graham.


2012 International Origin series, Teams, England RL
Captain Jamie Peacock announced his retirement from the international game a week before Game 2 for this reason he was not in the squad for this game. Also changes were made to the squad by coach Steve McNamara, this included resting Sam Tomkins, Sean O'Loughlin, Ryan Hall and Kevin Sinfield whilst Rangi Chase was left out due to disciplinary concerns at Castleford Tigers. Instead Danny Brough, Jonny Lomax, Stefan Ratchford, Matty Smith and Jodie Broughton came into the squad to replace them. Gareth Hock and Danny Tickle had to pull out due to slight knocks they received the week before the game.


2012 International Origin series, Teams, Exiles RL
The Exiles team originally were supposed to have another eight players for Game 1, most notably captain Brett Hodgson and half back Brett Finch because of injury, also missing due to injury was centre George Carmont, hooker Michael Monaghan, prop Lopini Paea, loose forward Luke O'Donnell and centre Setaimata Sa. Thomas Leuluai was named captain for Game 1 as Hodgson was injured. Due to a season-ending injury suffered in Game 1, stand in captain Thomas Leuluai missed Game 2.


2012 International Origin series, Teams, Exiles RL
Captain Brett Hodgson returned to the side for Game 2 from his injury. Joel Moon and Daniel Holdsworth came into the side for Game 2 as coach Daniel Anderson agreed with England that neither team will pick more than 3 players from a single club side, also Holdsworth came in due to the injury to Thomas Leuluai. In addition to this Steve Menzies, Heath L'Estrange, Lincoln Withers, Constantine Mika and Kylie Leuluai were all brought into the starting 17 due to various injuries.


2012 International Rugby Series
The 2012 IRB International Rugby Series was the first edition of a rugby union tournament, created by the International Rugby Board for tier two and tier three nations, played at Parc Eirias, Colwyn Bay in Wales. The matches between Canada, Russia, Samoa, Tonga and the United States were played over two match days on 9 November and 17 November 2012.


2012 International Rugby Series
The aim of the tournament was to increase the competitiveness between emerging rugby nations before the 2015 Rugby World Cup, to be held in England and Wales. Other unions involved in the 2012 International Rugby Series were Chile, Fiji, Georgia, Japan, Portugal, Romania and Uruguay.


2012 International Rugby Series
The tournament matches were in addition to those between tier one and tier two/three nations within the 2012-2019 international tours and test schedule which increased the opportunities for emerging rugby nations to play the world's best teams in June and November.


2012 International Rugby Series, Fixtures
Touch judges:Wayne Davies (Wales)Chris Williams (Wales)Television match official:Huw Lewis (Wales)


2012 International Rugby Series, Fixtures
Touch judges:Tim Hayes (Wales)Wayne Davies (Wales)Television match official:Paul Adams (Wales)


2012 International Rugby Series, Sponsorship
The competition is funded by the International Rugby Board and supported by the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) and Conwy County Borough Council.


2012 International V8 Supercars Championship
The 2012 International V8 Supercar Championship (often simplified to the 2012 V8 Supercars Championship) was an FIA sanctioned international motor racing series for V8 Supercars. It was the fourteenth running of the V8 Supercar Championship Series and the sixteenth series in which V8 Supercars have contested the premier Australian touring car title. The championship began on 1 March at the Clipsal 500 and concluded on 2 December at the Homebush Street Circuit. The 53rd Australian Touring Car Championship title was awarded to the winner of the Drivers' Championship by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport.


2012 International V8 Supercars Championship
Jamie Whincup and Triple Eight Race Engineering started the season as the defending drivers' and teams' champions. At Winton, the penultimate event of the season, Whincup secured his defence of the Drivers Championship, with Triple Eight Race Engineering also wrapping up the Teams Championship. Whincup's teammate Craig Lowndes took second in the points standings from Mark Winterbottom, of Ford Performance Racing, at the final round of the series to give Triple Eight their second consecutive 1–2 finish in the Drivers Championship.


2012 International V8 Supercars Championship, Race calendar
The championship was contested over thirty races at fifteen events. A provisional calendar was released on 8 October 2011.


2012 International V8 Supercars Championship, Championship standings, Points system
Points were awarded to the driver or drivers of a car that had completed 75% of the race distance and was running at the completion of the final lap. Various different points scales were applied to events having one, two, or three, ensuring that a driver would be awarded 300 points for winning all races at any event.


2012 International Women's Club Championship
The 2012 International Women's Club Championship was the first world wide international women's football club tournament, and was held in Japan from November 22–25, 2012. Four teams, comprising representatives from Europe, Australia and Japan, took part in the competition.


2012 International Women's Club Championship, Organization
It was held as the first competition of women's club championship in 2012, and was hosted by Japan Football Association and Japan Women's Football league. Fuji Television and BS Fuji affiliated, and Sankei Shimbun, Sankei Sports, FM NACK5, city of Saitama and Saitama Sports Commission supported the competition. Several companies such as Peugeot Citroën Japon, ASICS, Calbee and Nikon sponsored with the main sponsor mobcast.


2012 International Women's Club Championship, Venues
Two venues for the competition and both are in Saitama.


2012 International Women's Football Tournament of City of São Paulo
The 2012 Torneio Internacional Cidade de São Paulo (also known as the 2012 International Tournament of São Paulo) was the fourth edition of the Torneio Internacional Cidade de São Paulo de Futebol Feminino, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Brazil. It began on 9 December and ended on 19 December 2012.


2012 International Women's Football Tournament of City of São Paulo, Format
The four invited teams were in. In the first phase, the teams played each other within the group in a single round. The two teams with the most points earned in the respective group, were qualified for the next phase.


2012 International Women's Football Tournament of City of São Paulo, Format
In the final stage, the first and second teams placed in Group. Played only one match, becoming the champion, the winner team. If the match ends in a tie, will be considered champion, the team with the best campaign in the first phase.


2012 International Women's Football Tournament of City of São Paulo, Format
The third and fourth teams placed in the group. Played in one game, becoming the third-placed, the winner team. If the match ends in a tie, will be considered champion, the team with the best campaign in the first phase.


2012 International ZO Women's Tournament
The 2012 International ZO Women's Tournament was held from November 30 to December 2 at the Curling Center Wetzikon in Wetzikon, Switzerland as part of the 2012–13 World Curling Tour. The event was held in a round robin format, and the purse for the event was CHF16,000, of which the winner, Michèle Jäggi, received CHF6,000. Jäggi defeated three-time champion and last year's runner-up Mirjam Ott in the final with a score of 4–3.


2012 Internationaux Féminins de la Vienne
The 2012 Internationaux Féminins de la Vienne was a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the sixteenth edition of the tournament which was part of the 2012 ITF Women's Circuit. It took place in Poitiers, France on 22–28 October 2012.


2012 Internationaux Féminins de la Vienne, WTA entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 Internationaux Féminins de la Vienne – Doubles
Alizé Cornet and Virginie Razzano were the defending champions, but Cornet chose not to participate. Razzano partnered up with Alexandra Cadanțu, but they lost to Maria Kondratieva and Olga Savchuk in the first round.


2012 Internationaux Féminins de la Vienne – Doubles
Catalina Castaño and Mervana Jugić-Salkić won the title defeating Stéphanie Foretz Gacon and Tatjana Malek in the final 6–4, 5–7, [10–4].


2012 Internationaux Féminins de la Vienne – Singles
Kimiko Date-Krumm was the defending champion, but lost to Elena Vesnina in the first round.


2012 Internationaux Féminins de la Vienne – Singles
Monica Puig won the title defeating Elena Vesnina in the final 7–5, 1–6, 7–5.


2012 Internationaux de Nouvelle-Calédonie
The 2012 Internationaux de Nouvelle-Calédonie was a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the ninth edition of the tournament which is part of the 2012 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Nouméa, New Caledonia between 2 and 8 January 2011.


2012 Internationaux de Nouvelle-Calédonie, Singles main draw entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 Internationaux de Nouvelle-Calédonie, Champions, Doubles
Sanchai Ratiwatana /  Sonchat Ratiwatana def. Axel Michon /  Guillaume Rufin, 6–0, 6–4


2012 Internationaux de Nouvelle-Calédonie – Doubles
Dominik Meffert and Frederik Nielsen were the defending champions, but decided not to participate. Sanchai Ratiwatana and Sonchat Ratiwatana won the title, beating Axel Michon and Guillaume Rufin 6–0, 6–4 in the final.


2012 Internationaux de Nouvelle-Calédonie – Singles
Vincent Millot was the defending champion but decided not to participate. Jérémy Chardy won the title after defeating Adrián Menéndez 6–4, 6–3 in the final.


2012 Internationaux de Strasbourg
The 2012 Internationaux de Strasbourg was a professional tennis tournament played on clay courts. It was the 26th edition of the tournament which was part of the 2012 WTA Tour. It took place in Strasbourg, France between 19 and 26 May 2012.


2012 Internationaux de Strasbourg, Singles main draw entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 Internationaux de Strasbourg, Finals, Doubles
Olga Govortsova /  Klaudia Jans-Ignacik defeated  Natalie Grandin /  Vladimíra Uhlířová, 6–7(4–7), 6–3, [10–3]


2012 Internationaux de Strasbourg – Doubles
Akgul Amanmuradova and Chuang Chia-jung were the defending champions but Amanmuradova decided not to participate. Chuang played alongside Chang Kai-chen, but they lost in the quarterfinals to Natalie Grandin and Vladimíra Uhlířová. Olga Govortsova and Klaudia Jans-Ignacik won the tournament defeating Natalie Grandin and Vladimíra Uhlířová 6–7(4–7), 6–3, [10–3] in the final.


2012 Internationaux de Strasbourg – Singles
Andrea Petkovic was the defending champion, but did not participate because of an ankle injury.


2012 Internationaux de Strasbourg – Singles
Francesca Schiavone won the title, defeating Alizé Cornet in the final 6–4, 6–4.


2012 Internazionali Femminili di Palermo
The 2012 Internazionali Femminili di Palermo was a professional women's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 25th edition of the tournament which was part of the 2012 WTA Tour. It took place in Palermo, Italy between 9 and 15 July 2012. Sara Errani won the singles title.


2012 Internazionali Femminili di Palermo, Singles main draw entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 Internazionali Femminili di Palermo, Doubles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles main draw:


2012 Internazionali Femminili di Palermo – Doubles
Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci were the defending champions but decided not to participate. In the final Renata Voráčová and Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová defeated Darija Jurak and Katalin Marosi 7–6(7–5), 6–4.


2012 Internazionali Femminili di Palermo – Singles
Anabel Medina Garrigues was the defending champion, but lost to Maria Elena Camerin in the first round.


2012 Internazionali Femminili di Palermo – Singles
Top seed Sara Errani won the title by beating Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová 6–1, 6–3 in the final. She did not drop a set the entire tournament.


2012 Internazionali Tennis Val Gardena Südtirol
The 2012 Internazionali Tennis Val Gardena Südtirol was a professional tennis tournament played in Ortisei, Italy between 5 and 11 November 2012 on carpet courts. It was the third edition of the tournament which was part of the 2012 ATP Challenger Tour.


2012 Internazionali Tennis Val Gardena Südtirol, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 Internazionali Tennis Val Gardena Südtirol – Doubles
Dustin Brown and Lovro Zovko were the defending champions but they decided not to participate together this year. Brown plays alongside Christopher Kas, while Zovko partners up with Marin Draganja, but both pairs lost in the first round. Karol Beck and Rik de Voest won the title, defeating Rameez Junaid and Michael Kohlmann 6–3, 6–4 in the final.


2012 Internazionali Tennis Val Gardena Südtirol – Singles
Rajeev Ram was the defending champion, but the lost in the first round to Dominik Meffert. Benjamin Becker won the title, defeating Andreas Seppi 6–1, 6–4 in the final.


2012 Internazionali Trofeo Lame Perrel–Faip
The 2012 Internazionali Trofeo Lame Perrel–Faip was a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the seventh edition of the tournament which was part of the 2012 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Bergamo, Italy between 13 and 19 February 2012.


2012 Internazionali Trofeo Lame Perrel–Faip, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 Internazionali Trofeo Lame Perrel–Faip, Singles main draw entrants, Other entrants
The following players received entry as an alternate into the singles main draw:


2012 Internazionali Trofeo Lame Perrel–Faip, Champions, Doubles
Jamie Delgado /  Ken Skupski def. Martin Fischer /  Philipp Oswald, 7–5, 7–5


2012 Internazionali Trofeo Lame Perrel–Faip – Doubles
Frederik Nielsen and Ken Skupski were the defending champions but Nielsen decided not to participate. Skupski plays alongside Jamie Delgado. They went on to win the title against Martin Fischer and Philipp Oswald 7–5, 7–5 in the final.


2012 Internazionali Trofeo Lame Perrel–Faip – Singles
Andreas Seppi was the defending champion but decided not to participate. Björn Phau won the title after defeating Alexander Kudryavtsev 6–4, 6–4 in the final.


2012 Internazionali di Monza e Brianza
The 2012 Internazionali di Monza e Brianza was a professional tennis tournament played on clay courts. It was the eighth edition of the tournament which was part of the 2012 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Monza, Italy between 11 and 17 June 2012.


2012 Internazionali di Monza e Brianza, ATP entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 Internazionali di Monza e Brianza, ATP entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received entry as a special exempt into the singles main draw:


2012 Internazionali di Monza e Brianza – Doubles
Johan Brunström and Frederik Nielsen were the defending champions but decided not to participate. Andrey Golubev and Yuri Schukin won the title by defeating Teymuraz Gabashvili and Stefano Ianni 7–6(7–4), 5–7, [10–7] in the final.


2012 Internazionali di Monza e Brianza – Singles
Julian Reister was the defending champion. Daniel Gimeno-Traver won the final after defeating Albert Montañés 6–2, 4–6, 6–4 in the final.


2012 Interprovincial Hurling Championship
The 2012 Interprovincial Hurling Championship, known as the 2012 M Donnelly Hurling Interprovincial Championship due to the tournament's sponsorship by businessman Martin Donnelly, is the 83rd series of the Interprovincial Championship. The annual hurling championship between the four historic provinces of Ireland is contested by Connacht, Leinster, Munster and Ulster. The championship was won by Leinster.


2012 Interprovincial Hurling Championship, Media coverage
None of the Interprovincial Championship semi-finals of final were broadcast live on television, however, brief highlights of all three games were shown on TG4's GAA 2012 highlights programme.


2012 Intersport Heilbronn Open
The 2012 Intersport Heilbronn Open was a professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It was the 25th edition of the tournament which was part of the 2012 ATP Challenger Tour. It took place in Heilbronn, Germany between 23 and 29 January 2012.


2012 Intersport Heilbronn Open, Singles main draw entrants, Other Entrants
The following players received wildcards into the singles main draw:


2012 Intersport Heilbronn Open, Champions, Doubles
Johan Brunström /  Frederik Nielsen def. Treat Conrad Huey /  Dominic Inglot, 6–3, 3–6, [10–6]


2012 Intersport Heilbronn Open – Doubles
Jamie Delgado and Jonathan Marray were the defending champions, but both players chose not to participate.


2012 Intersport Heilbronn Open – Doubles
Johan Brunström and Frederik Nielsen won the title, defeating Treat Conrad Huey and Dominic Inglot in the final 6–3, 3–6, [10–6].


2012 Intersport Heilbronn Open – Singles
Björn Phau won the title, defeating Ruben Bemelmans in the final 6–7(4–7), 6–3, 6–4.


2012 Intersport Heilbronn Open – Singles
Defending champion Bastian Knittel lost in the second round to Ruben Bemelmans.


2012 Inverclyde Council election
Elections to Inverclyde Council were held on 3 May 2012, the same day as the other 31 local authorities in Scotland. The election used the six wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with each ward electing three or four Councillors using the single transferable vote system form of proportional representation, with 20 Councillors being elected in total.


2012 Inverclyde Council election
The election saw Labour Councillors remain the largest party as they gained 1 additional seat to hold half the seats on the Council. The Scottish National Party also increased their representation by 1 seat and remained in second place on the authority. The Scottish Liberal Democrats remained in third place but lost half of their seats, falling from 4 seats to 2. The Independent and Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party retained their solitary seats on the authority.


2012 Inverclyde Council election
Following the election the Labour Party again formed a minority administration this time with the support of the Independent and the Conservative Party Councillors.


2012 Inverclyde Council election, Results
Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 3 May 2007. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.


2012 Iowa Barnstormers season
The 2012 Iowa Barnstormers season was the 12th season for the franchise, and the eighth in the Arena Football League. The team was coached by Mike Hohensee. The Barnstormers played their home games at Wells Fargo Arena. The Barnstormers finished the season 7–11 and failed to qualify for the playoffs.


2012 Iowa Barnstormers season, Schedule
The Barnstormers began the season on the road against the Spokane Shock on March 12. Their first home game of the season was against the Utah Blaze on March 17. They hosted the San Antonio Talons on July 21 in their final regular season game.


2012 Iowa Corn Indy 250
The  2012 Iowa Corn Indy 250 was the sixth running of the Iowa Corn Indy 250 and the ninth round of the 2012 IndyCar Series season.


2012 Iowa Corn Indy 250
It took place on Saturday, June 23, 2012. The race was contested for 250 laps at 0.875-mile (1.408 km) Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa, and was televised by NBC Sports in the United States.


2012 Iowa Corn Indy 250
Pole sitter Dario Franchitti of Chip Ganassi Racing fell out of the race before the green flag due to engine failure. Ryan Hunter-Reay of Andretti Autosport won the race, his second consecutive win of the season.


2012 Iowa Corn Indy 250
The weather at this event reached up to 86 °F or 30 °C; almost becoming too hot to grow the corn that would make up the ethanol fuel for the drivers.


2012 Iowa Hawkeyes football team
The 2012 Iowa Hawkeyes football team represented the University of Iowa in the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season. They were led by 14th year head coach Kirk Ferentz and play their home games at Kinnick Stadium. They are a member of the Legends Division of the Big Ten Conference. The team finished 2–6 in conference play, 4–8 overall and failed to become bowl-eligible for the first time since 2000. This also represents the Hawkeyes most recent losing season.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses
The 2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses took place on January 3, 2012.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses
Using the media's generally accepted definition of the Iowa Republican caucus as the non-binding secret polling at caucus sites and using the incomplete data available, the 2012 Iowa Republican caucus was the closest race in Iowa caucus history with only a thirty-four vote margin (about 3⁄100th of a percent) separating former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, who received 29,839 votes (24.56%), and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, who received 29,805 votes (24.53%). Representative Ron Paul of Texas ran a close third, receiving 26,036 votes (21.43%).


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses
Trailing were former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (16,163 votes, 13.30%), Texas governor Rick Perry (12,557 votes, 10.33%), and Representative Michele Bachmann (6,046 votes, 4.98%). Former Utah governor and ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, Jr., who skipped campaigning in Iowa to focus on the New Hampshire primary, received 739 votes (0.61%).


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses
In total, 121,501 votes were recorded, setting a record for Iowa Republican caucus turnout; this record was broken in the 2016 election by more than 60,000 votes. However, this total was still far less than the all-time Iowa caucus record in the 2008 Democratic Iowa caucuses, in which 239,000 Democrats voted. The 121,501 votes represent 19.8 percent of active registered Republicans in the state and just 5.4 percent of all Iowans eligible to vote.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses
However, the vote totals of eight precincts were never counted, so the vote totals are not really known.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses
The secret polling results at Republican caucus sites were unrelated to the delegate selection process in 2012, although that has been changed for the 2016 election cycle.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses
If the Iowa 2012 Republican caucuses were regarded as the start of the Republican delegate selection process for the 2012 United States presidential election, the real caucus process was the election of Republican delegates to the county conventions, who would eventually determine the delegates at the state convention in June 2012. This would, in turn, determine the Iowa delegates who would attend the Republican National Convention in August, 2012.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses
This process rewarded campaign organizations that could not only get supporters to the caucus sites, but get supporters who would be willing to serve as delegates to county conventions and beyond. As a result, Ron Paul was ultimately able to win 22 of the 28 delegates to the national convention and Mitt Romney won the other six.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses
The 2011–2012 pre-caucus poll results for Iowa had highly volatile results; Gallup polls showed the leading candidate in Iowa change seven times from May 2011 until the caucuses. The 2012 caucuses also set a new record for political expenditures, with $12 million being spent, two-thirds of it from "super PACs" which dominated the campaigns by running highly negative attack ads.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses
In the August 13 Ames Straw Poll, a traditional straw poll held in Iowa Republican caucuses, Bachmann narrowly defeated Paul, with Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty trailing in third. Following his disappointing showing, Pawlenty dropped out of the race.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses
Three candidates' debates were held in Iowa over the course the campaign: one on August 11 in Ames ahead of the straw poll; one on December 10, 2011, in Des Moines, and one on December 15 in Sioux City. Several other joint candidates' appearances took place during the caucus campaign outside Iowa.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses
The day after her unsatisfactory sixth-place performance in Iowa, Bachmann announced she was dropping out of the presidential race. Following his low fifth-place finish, Perry initially announced he was "reassessing" his campaign "to determine whether there is a path forward," but subsequently stated that he would continue on to New Hampshire and South Carolina.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Early race
Considered a frontrunner for the 2012 nomination, former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee, who was the winner of the Iowa Republican caucuses in 2008, was the leader in every statewide poll conducted in the state in 2010, and early 2011. Huckabee decided against a second bid, however, announcing the decision on his Fox News show Huckabee on May 14, 2011, stating "all the factors say go, but my heart says no, and that's the decision I've made." Following his decision, former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney became the frontrunner in polls conducted within the state in the weeks following, despite only appearing in Iowa a handful of times, and refusing to participate in the state's Ames Straw Poll in August 2011.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Early race
This trend only lasted for a couple months, however, when support for Congresswoman Michele Bachmann began to increase, due in large part to the support she was able to garner through the Tea Party movement, of which she was a founding member of the Tea Party Caucus in the United States House of Representatives. Bachmann also strongly played up the fact that she was born in Waterloo, Iowa, where she also officially kicked off her candidacy, before eventually moving to Minnesota with her family when she became a teenager.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Early race
In addition to Huckabee, several other potential candidates visited Iowa, including former Governor of Alaska Sarah Palin, Governor of Indiana Mitch Daniels, former Governor of New York George Pataki, Senator John Thune of South Dakota, Governor of Mississippi Haley Barbour, Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina, and Governor of New Jersey Chris Christie all decided against bids for president, despite receiving earlier speculation. Businessman Donald Trump, who also briefly flirted with the possibility of a bid for president, had sent several aides to Iowa, but ultimately decided against a bid.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Early race
Unlike the 2008 presidential election, when many of the potential candidates had announced their bids by February 2007, the only major candidate to announce their intentions as to whether they would form an exploratory committee for President of the United States was businessman Herman Cain on January 12, 2011, after having toured Iowa, speaking to various Republican Party groups and leaders, as well as leaders in the Tea Party movement.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Early race
The first official visit to Iowa by Cain, as a presidential candidate, was on March 7, 2011, during a conference hosted by the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, along with former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and former Governor Buddy Roemer, who also announced their own exploratory committees to run for president four days earlier.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Early race
Former Governor Tim Pawlenty, and former Senator Rick Santorum also participated in the event, though they had yet to announce their intentions to run for president. Following the conference, Pawlenty officially announced his bid on March 21, 2011, and made his first visit to Iowa as a presidential candidate on April 1, 2011, speaking with Republican Party leaders in Newton, Iowa. Santorum would also announce his own exploratory committee on April 13, 2011, and made his first visit as a candidate on April 25, 2011.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Early race
The next day, Congressman Ron Paul announced his exploratory committee to run for president in Des Moines, Iowa. He had visited the state several times before, including meeting with Governor of Iowa Terry Branstad a month earlier. Former Governor Mitt Romney, who announced his exploratory committee by posting a video on YouTube on April 11, 2011, failed to make his first appearance in Iowa until May 27, 2011, visiting Ankeny, Des Moines and Cedar Rapids.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Early race
A month later, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann made her first visit to Iowa as a candidate on June 26, 2011, when she officially announced her campaign in Waterloo, Iowa. Former Governor Jon Huntsman, who announced his campaign in front of the Statue of Liberty on June 21, 2011, was the final then-announced candidate to visit Iowa, making his first speech at a soapbox event held by the Des Moines Register at the Iowa State Fair on August 11, 2011.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Early race, Date of caucuses
The 2012 Iowa Republican caucuses were originally scheduled to begin on February 6, 2012, much later than the date in 2008, which almost immediately followed the beginning of the year in January 2008. On September 29, 2011, the entire schedule of caucuses and primaries was disrupted, however, when it was announced that the Republican Party of Florida had decided to move up its primary to January 31, in an attempt to bring attention to its own primary contest, and attract the presidential candidates to visit the state.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Early race, Date of caucuses
Because of the move, the Republican National Committee decided to strip Florida of half of its delegates. Also as a result, the Iowa Republican Party, along with New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada then sought to move their caucuses back into early January. All but Nevada, who agreed to follow Florida, confirmed their caucus and primary dates to take place throughout January, with Iowa deciding to hold their contest on January 3, 2012.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Ames Straw Poll
As the Ames Straw Poll approached in August 2011, visits and spending by the campaigns dramatically increased. Several candidates, including Bachmann, Congressman Ron Paul, former Senator Rick Santorum, Congressman Thaddeus McCotter, former Governor Tim Pawlenty, and businessman Herman Cain made bids for spots to compete at the straw poll. Congressman Paul bid the most, and was awarded the prime spot at the straw poll, which Mitt Romney occupied in 2007, and eventually led to his victory.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Ames Straw Poll
A representative for Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich was also present, but due to his campaign facing large amounts of debt,  did not place a bid, and was not given a spot at the straw poll. The rest of the candidates who did place a bid spent millions attempting to win the poll, with Bachmann, Paul and Pawlenty spending the most money, performing various get out the vote efforts, and visiting the state dozens of times in the weeks leading up to the straw poll.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Ames Straw Poll
Two days before the straw poll, the third official Republican debate was held at Iowa State University in Ames, sponsored by the Republican Party of Iowa, Fox News, and The Washington Examiner. Candidates participating in the debate included Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum. The debate was noted for the sparring between Bachmann and Pawlenty, with Pawlenty criticized Bachmann for what he said was a lack of leadership, while Bachmann fired back that Pawlenty's support for cap and trade legislation and the individual mandate while governor of Minnesota made his record look like Obama's.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Ames Straw Poll
Gingrich criticized Wallace by saying he was asking "gotcha questions" instead of legitimate questions. Romney responded to criticisms of his Massachusetts health care reform, and its similarity to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, termed "Obamacare" by its opponent. Santorum stated his view that same-sex marriage is not a state issue, because the 10th Amendment "does not give states the right to trample over moral law." Romney agreed that it is a federal issue, reasoning that people move to different states and that marriage is a status, not an activity that takes place within the walls of a state. Huntsman and Paul reiterated their support for civil unions.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Ames Straw Poll
On Saturday, August 13, 2011, the straw poll was conducted on the campus of Iowa State University at the Hilton Coliseum in Ames, Iowa, with Bachmann narrowly defeating Paul, and former Governor Tim Pawlenty in third place. The 2011 straw poll had the second highest turnout in history, second only to 1999 straw poll, when then-Governor George W. Bush won in a landslide. Governor Rick Perry, who announced the day of the straw poll in South Carolina, but whose name did not appear on the ballot, received a significant number of write-in votes, placing in sixth. Other non-participating candidates, such as Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, and former Governor of Utah Jon Huntsman, performed poorly in the straw poll, placing a distant seventh, eighth, and ninth respectively.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Post-straw poll
Following the straw poll, support of Congresswoman Michele Bachmann continued to grow, as the media focused on what they deemed the "new top tier" of Bachmann, Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. This drew criticism from the supporters of Congressman Ron Paul, as well as comedian Jon Stewart on his program The Daily Show, who pointed out Paul's near tie with Bachmann in the poll, and subsequent lack of coverage of the candidate by the media. Bachmann's support in polls following Ames began to fall, however, with Rick Perry's support growing in the state following his entrance to the race. His first visit to the state as a presidential candidate was at an event held on August 14, 2011, in Waterloo, Iowa, which Bachmann also attended.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Post-straw poll
The same day, former Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota announced his intentions to withdraw from the race, as a result of placing a distant third in the Ames Straw Poll. Congressman Thaddeus McCotter also dropped out of the race a month after the straw poll, calling his presidential bid the "worst 15 minutes of [his] life."


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Post-straw poll
Going into September, media coverage of subsequent debates held in Simi Valley, California, Tampa and Orlando, Florida focused on Rick Perry's poor performance in those debates, and eventually led to a significant drop in his support in statewide polls conducted in both Iowa, as well as nationwide. This also coincided with the introduction of the 9–9–9 plan by fellow candidate businessman Herman Cain, who then saw a sharp rise in the polls, putting him in a virtual tie with Mitt Romney. In the weeks following, Cain was the subject of a scandal involving accusations of sexual harassment during his tenure at the National Restaurant Association, as well as an accusation that he had participated in a 13-year affair with an Atlanta businesswoman.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Post-straw poll
Subsequent statewide polling then saw a surge among several candidates, including Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, who would both surge in the final weeks before the caucuses. On December 3, 2011, in Atlanta, Georgia, Herman Cain officially announced the suspension of his campaign, due to the various allegations of sexual harassment, a 13-year affair, and personal attacks on his family. Soon thereafter it was reported that Cain would endorse Gingrich the following Monday, but it proved to be untrue, with Cain refusing to endorse any other candidates. Despite the suspension of his campaign, the Republican Party of Iowa will still report caucus vote totals for Cain.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Final debates
On December 10, 2011, the first of two final debates to be conducted in Iowa before the caucuses was held, and hosted by ABC News, The Des Moines Register, and the Iowa Republican Party. The debate was the first to occur following Cain's campaign suspension, with Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum participating in the debate. Jon Huntsman, who had refused to contest Iowa, instead focusing his efforts on winning the New Hampshire primary, was not invited to participate in the debate, and did not meet the debate organizer's criteria of participation.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Final debates
The debate was also one of the first to occur following Gingrich's surge in the statewide polls in Iowa, as well as nationwide. It was focused on various economic, foreign, and domestic issues, with Gingrich facing most of the criticism from his fellow competitors. Romney mocked Gingrich's plan to build a lunar colony to mine minerals from the moon, saying that the real difference between the two of them was their backgrounds, saying "I spent my life in the private sector. I know how the economy works."


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Final debates
Gingrich replied, "Let's be candid. The only reason you didn't become a career politician is you lost to Teddy Kennedy in 1994", which drew boos and laughter from the audience. Romney replied "If I'd have beaten Ted Kennedy I could have been a career politician, that's probably true. If I would've been able to get in the NFL like I hoped when I was a kid, I would have been a football star all my life too." Mitt Romney later received criticism when he attempted to bet fellow candidate Rick Perry $10,000, when discussing the issue of his past support of a healthcare mandate, which Perry had pointed out was removed from his book.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Final debates
Other participants, including Ron Paul, who had also seen a significant surge in polls in the state, criticized Gingrich for his participation as a consultant for mortgage company Freddie Mac, during which he was paid $1.6 million, shortly before its collapse and subsequent bail out by the federal government. Michele Bachmann also attacked Gingrich, after he refused to call himself a lobbyist, saying, "You don't need to be within the technical definition of a lobbyist to still be influence peddling."


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Final debates
A second debate was held on December 15, 2011, and took place in Sioux City, Iowa. It was hosted by Fox News and the Iowa Republican Party, and moderated by Bret Baier. Participants in the debate included Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum. Newt Gingrich was once again the main focus of his competitors, and continued to receive criticism for his past dealing with Freddie Mac.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Final debates
Ron Paul was also challenged for his stance on Iran, and was criticized by Michele Bachmann, who Paul refuted by continuing to state his position that sanctions are an act of war, and the prospect of Iran possibly having a nuclear weapon is similar to the war propaganda that preceded the war in Iraq. Paul continued, "I don't want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. I would like to reduce them because there would be less chance of war. But to declare war on 1.2 billion Muslims and say all Muslims are the same, this is dangerous talk. Yeah, there are some radicals. But they don't come here to kill us because we're free and prosperous. Do they go to Switzerland and Sweden? That is absurd."


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Final debates
Paul also stated, "why do we have 900 bases in 130 countries and we're totally bankrupt. How do you rebuild a military when we have no money? How are we going to take care of the people? I think this wild goal to have another war in the name of defense is the dangerous thing. The danger is really us overreacting. We need a strong national defense, and we need to only go to war with a declaration of war." Later in the debate, Rick Perry received attention when he called himself the "Tim Tebow of the Iowa caucuses," when asked how he would compete against President Barack Obama in a general election debate.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Final debates
Mitt Romney received praise for his performance in the debate, who largely focused on criticizing President Obama, rather than his opponents. One exchange involved Obama's lack of response towards a drone being taken down in Iran, with Romney stating, "This is a president — with the — the spy drone being brought down, he says pretty please? A foreign policy based on pretty please? You got to be kidding."


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Final weeks of campaign
In the final weeks leading up to the caucuses, a majority of the candidates spent a large amount of time campaigning in the state, with Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry touring the state on their own respective bus tours. Bachmann visited all 99 of the state's counties in a ten-day sweep through the state. Other candidates, including Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, also held several events throughout the state to meet with voters. Mitt Romney also visited the state, but spent most of December focusing his efforts on the New Hampshire primary instead. Jon Huntsman also decided to focus on the New Hampshire primary, and did not campaign in Iowa.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Final weeks of campaign
Polling in the final weeks saw a surge of support for Ron Paul, with Gingrich's support beginning to falter. Support for Mitt Romney also stayed somewhat steady, and Bachmann, Perry, and Santorum were all mostly tied in the second-tier. A poll conducted by Public Policy Polling between December 16 until December 18, 2011, showed Paul with the lead for the first time, with 23% of likely caucus-goers supporting him. Romney fell close behind with 20%, and Gingrich saw a steep drop in support with 14%, largely due to the increase of negative advertisements being bought against him in the state's media market by his opponents.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Final weeks of campaign
Another poll conducted by Iowa State University, KCRG-TV and The Gazette between December 8–18, 2011, also found Paul in the lead with 27.5% of support, with Gingrich close behind at 25.3%. Yet another poll conducted by Rasmussen Reports on December 19, 2011, found Mitt Romney with the most support at 25%, with Paul close behind at 20%, and Gingrich at 16%. Fundraising for Paul also increased in December, when his campaign raised more than $4 million in one "moneybomb" over a weekend.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Final weeks of campaign
Shortly prior to the caucus date, an unofficial campaign to urge voters to write in Sarah Palin began running radio and television ads in Iowa. The ads argued that Palin is the only candidate who can stop crony capitalism. The final week before the caucus witnessed a surprise surge in the polls for Santorum, who rose from singled digits earlier to 15% behind Paul at 22% and Romney at 24%.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Final weeks of campaign, Unexpected performance by Santorum
Santorum spent months in Iowa, traveling to all 99 counties and holding some 381 town hall meetings over the course of the campaign. However, for months Santorum lagged in the polls and had difficulty raising money, traveling around the state in a pickup truck instead of buses and caravans used by other candidates. He lagged in the so-called second tier of candidates, polling in the single digits in Iowa as late as December 18. However, his surge began around that time, as numerous polls put him in the top three along with Romney and Paul.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Final weeks of campaign, Unexpected performance by Santorum
According to the Los Angeles Times, "Santorum caught fire at just the right time as social conservatives in the state and other undecided voters appeared to gravitate his way in large numbers at the expense of candidates" such as Gingrich, Perry, and Bachmann.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Final weeks of campaign, Campaign spending and super PACs
The Iowa race was dominated by a large volume of negative or attack advertising paid for by "super PACs" supporting candidates. Total political expenditures in Iowa set a new record, totaling over $12 million, with an estimated two-thirds coming from super PACs. (Unlike contributions directly to candidate funds, which have a $2,500 contribution limit and must disclose all contributors, super PACs may raise unlimited amounts of money and may keep contributors anonymous). Some $10 million was spent in television advertising by candidates and super PACs across the state by the end of 2011.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Final weeks of campaign, Campaign spending and super PACs
Former journalist David Yepsen, who covered nine Iowa caucuses for the Des Moines Register before joining the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, told The Boston Globe: "It's hard to figure out who is doing the attacking and to what end, and they're double-barreling the attacks on two or more candidates. I've never seen that before. We've never had this volume [of negative ads] or this much complexity."


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Final weeks of campaign, Campaign spending and super PACs
Romney's campaign was by far the largest overall spender, and Romney's "Restore Our Future" super PAC spent $4 million in attack ads against Gingrich beginning on December 9. The "Restore Our Future" negative television advertising and direct mail campaign was said to be "unprecedented" and "unlike anything in Iowa caucus history" and was credited with Gingrich's precipitous drop in the polls from front-runner into fourth-place finisher. By December 27, $2.86 million had been spent on television advertising by the Perry campaign, and $2.85 million had been spent by the pro-Romney  "Restore Our Future" PAC.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Final weeks of campaign, Campaign spending and super PACs
The New York Times reported that Romney "effectively outsourced his negative advertising to a group that has raised millions of dollars from his donors to inundate his opponents with attacks - all without breaking the rules that forbid super PACs to explicitly coordinate with the candidates." The Detroit Free Press editorialized that "No one exploited the new no-limits-or-accountability playing field more shamelessly or effectively than [Romney]. His campaign mounted a sunny, Morning in America-style ad blitz, while super PACs founded and directed by longtime Romney loyalists buried the governor's GOP rivals in televised slime."


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Final weeks of campaign, Campaign spending and super PACs
On January 1, ahead of the caucuses, Gingrich stated that Romney would "buy an election if he could." In the final days of the campaign and immediately after the results came in, Gingrich expressed anger toward Romney and the negative "Restore Our Future" campaign, stating that in the future "We are not going to go out and run nasty ads, but I do reserve the right to tell the truth ... If the truth seems negative, that may be more a comment on his [Romney’s] record than the nature of politics."


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Final weeks of campaign, Campaign spending and super PACs
A study conducted by Kantar Media's Campaign Media Analysis Group showed that by December 30, some 45 percent of all television ads in Iowa were negative ads against Gingrich; 20 percent were negative ads against Romney; 10% were positive ads for Romney; 6% were positive ads for Gingrich; 8% were negative ads against Perry; 8% were positive ads for Perry; and 3% were positive ads for Paul.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Final weeks of campaign, Campaign spending and super PACs
Gingrich was the only candidate of the five leading candidates to face a net financial disadvantage in terms of ad money spent (as a percent of total ad money spent in Iowa) verses percent of ads run against that candidate:  Gingrich was at -35%, Santorum as +4%, Romney at +10%, Paul at +17%, and Perry at +31% (the largest net financial advantage).


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Campaign, Final weeks of campaign, Campaign spending and super PACs
According to data compiled by BuzzFeed, for every $1,000 spent on advertising by their campaigns, Santorum received 49 votes; Gingrich received 11 votes; Paul received 10 votes; Romney received six votes; and Perry received two votes. For every one vote received, Perry's campaign spent $478.40 in paid media, Romney spent $154.90, Paul spent $103.30, Gingrich spent $89.74, Santorum spent $20.50, and Bachmann spent $3.95. This makes the average "price per vote" about $130, taking in account only media spending.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Endorsements
Romney was endorsed by three of the state's five largest newspapers: The Des Moines Register, the Quad City Times, and the Sioux City Journal. The two other large state newspapers, the Cedar Rapids Gazette and the Waterloo Cedar Fall Courier, did not endorse any candidate.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Endorsements
Few major endorsements were made by major Iowa Republican elected officials. Iowa's governor Terry Branstad endorsed no candidate. Similarly, Senator Chuck Grassley chose not to endorse any candidate. On January 2, U.S. Representative Steve King said on Simon Conway's program on WHO Radio that he would not endorse before the caucuses.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Endorsements
On December 9, Iowa Secretary of State Matt Schultz endorsed Santorum. Prominent Christian right figures Bob Vander Plaats of The Family Leader (who unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for governor of Iowa in 2010) and Chuck Hurley of the Iowa Family Policy Center endorsed Santorum on December 20.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Election
Election Day was a "balmy January day by Iowa standards" with temperatures of up to 35 degrees in central Iowa and "occasional gusts of wind," more favorable weather than in the 2008 caucuses, with temperatures of 4 degrees.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Election, Candidates on ballot
The Republican Party of Iowa announced on December 29, 2011, that they would report vote totals for the following candidates: Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Buddy Roemer, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum. Vote counts for "No Preference" and "Other" were also reported.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Election, Candidates on ballot
The eight names were listed on the ballot in alphabetical order. Cain was included on the ballot although he had dropped out of the race because the names were finalized before Cain suspended his campaign.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Election, Allegations of irregularities and results certification
On January 5 following the caucuses, Des Moines radio station KCCI first reported that caucus-goer Edward True, stated in an affidavit that at his 53-person caucus at the Garrett Memorial Library in Moulton in Appanoose County that he was one of three people who had helped in counting the results and had written the results down on a piece of paper to post to Facebook, but later discovered that the reported count was inaccurate.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Election, Allegations of irregularities and results certification
According to True's affidavit, Romney had actually received just two votes, but had been credited with 22 votes: "53 caucus-goers had cast votes in his precinct, rather than 79 as reported by the state. The 26-vote difference reflects what he says were 20 excess votes for Mr. Romney and six for Mr. Roemer." If true, this would change the statewide results from an eight-vote victory for Romney into a 12-vote victory for Santorum.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Election, Allegations of irregularities and results certification
Statistician Nate Silver notes that Romney had performed poorly in other Appanoose County precincts, receiving two of 39 votes in one, four of 43 votes in another, and none of 40 votes in a third, and also commented that it was unusual that obscure candidate Buddy Roemer, who received just 31 votes statewide, was credited with six votes in one precinct.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Election, Allegations of irregularities and results certification
Silver also pointed out that one precinct in Appanoose County, Pleasant Franklin, reported no turnout at all, although it was listed as a valid caucus site and 132 voters cast ballots for John McCain in the 2008 general election there. Pleasant Franklin was one of eight precincts throughout that state that were listed by the state party but were reported as having no Republican turnout. Some have suggested that since minor counting errors are common, it is plausible that the lost votes could be canceled out by a similar error at another caucus location. However, Silver noted the exceptional closeness of the race and noted on January 5 that "For now, the caucuses are probably best thought of as still being too close to call."


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Election, Allegations of irregularities and results certification
True, who is a Ron Paul supporter, stated to KCCI that: "This is huge. It essentially changes who won." A Republican Party of Iowa spokesman stated that since True is neither a precinct captain nor county chairperson, he has "no business" talking about election results. On January 5, the Iowa Republican Party released a written statement in which they refused to respond to reports of the irregularity and stated that did not have "any reason to believe the final, certified results of Appanoose County" would change the outcome.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Election, Allegations of irregularities and results certification
Santorum stated on January 6 that the report of the irregularities "doesn't really matter to me," citing the virtually tied results. Counties had up to two weeks from the date of the caucuses to transmit their final certified results to the state Republican Party. While there are no recount provisions for caucus results in Iowa Republican party rules, there was a certification process, which was described as "nearly the same thing."


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Election, Allegations of irregularities and results certification
On January 16, it was reported that there was "a very real chance that the Republican Party of Iowa will announce this week that Rick Santorum, and not Romney, won the Iowa caucuses," citing various campaign sources who reported that the final numbers will be different from those released on caucus night. Republican Party of Iowa executive director Chad Olsen said on January 17 that there have been errors giving both Santorum and Romney more votes than reported on caucus night.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Election, Allegations of irregularities and results certification
On January 19, the Iowa Republican Party released the certified results showing Santorum edged out Romney with 29,839 votes to Romney's 29,805, a margin of 34 votes. The Iowa Republican Party initially declined to formally declare a winner because results from eight precincts were lost and could not be certified, which The Washington Post said "served to embarrass the Iowa GOP — which had to admit that it had misallocated some votes, and simply lost some others, in a razor's-edge election where every vote mattered." One party executive called the result a "split decision." The initial returns from the uncertified eight precincts (four in Lee County and one each in Cerro Gordo, Emmet, Franklin, and Pocahontas counties) also favored Santorum, and statistician Nate Silver stated that if those missing precincts had been included, Santorum's margin would have been increased.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Election, Allegations of irregularities and results certification
Despite its earlier decision not to declare an official winner, on January 21, the Iowa Republican Party reversed itself and issued a press release formally declaring Santorum the winner of the caucuses, saying, "In order to clarify conflicting reports and to affirm the results released January 18 by the Republican Party of Iowa, Chairman Matthew Strawn and the state central committee declared Senator Rick Santorum the winner."


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Election, Allegations of irregularities and results certification
According to observers, the "muddled result and response" threatens the future of the Iowa caucuses' first-in-the-nation status, which already have many critics because of the attention paid to the caucuses and its unrepresentative demographic characteristics. The Des Moines Register stated that the 2012 caucus errors "opens a new line of attack: that Iowa’s process is amateurish, and that its results cannot be trusted."


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Polling, Entrance poll
An entrance poll was conducted by Edison Research for the Associated Press and the television networks, involving interviews with 1,787 caucus-goers at 40 randomly selected caucus locations throughout Iowa, with a +/- 4% margin of error. The entrance poll found:


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Results
There are 614,913 registered Republicans as of January 3, 2012. Turnout was 19.9% of the voting-eligible population (registered Iowa Republicans).


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Results, Selection of delegates
The Iowa Republican precinct caucus is the first part in a multi-step process to elect the state's 25 pledged delegates to the 2012 Republican National Convention. The January 3 caucuses (precinct caucuses) elect delegates to county conventions. These county conventions, in turn, elect delegates to the four congressional-district conventions on March 10, who elect three national delegates each. Each congressional-district convention also appoints two members to a "slate committee" which chooses 13 additional delegates. These 13 delegates are voted on at the Republican Party of Iowa state convention on June 18.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Results, Selection of delegates
Notably, even the 25 pledged delegates are not bound to support any candidate at the national convention. Unlike the majority of states, Iowa RNC delegates are free to vote for any candidate for president or vice president. In addition to the 25 pledged delegates, Iowa also sent three unpledged delegates to the convention, for a total of 28 Iowa delegates.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Results, Selection of delegates
According to the Associated Press (AP), the Iowa Republican system "puts a premium on getting the most votes in individual congressional districts. If a candidate's supporters can control a congressional district convention, they can choose national delegates and slate committee members who support their candidate." A January 4 Associated Press analysis projected that Romney would win 13 delegates, Santorum would win 12, and the rest of the candidates would get none. This projection was also used by The New York Times. CNN used a different estimate, predicting that Romney would receive 18 delegates, Santorum would receive 8, Paul would receive 7, Perry would receive 4, and Gingrich would receive 2. NBC used a third estimate, predicting that Romney would receive 11, Santorum would receive 11, and Paul would receive 3.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Results, Selection of delegates
Contrary to these early projections, however, Paul ultimately did extremely well in the delegate race. Indeed, despite the fact that Paul finished in third place in the popular vote, 22 of Iowa's 28 delegates ultimately voted for Paul at the Republican National Convention. Since Iowa's delegates are not bound to vote for a nominee based on the results of the caucuses, Paul supporters were able to exert a substantial influence on the delegate race by mastering Iowa's arcane election rules and winning key positions on state election committees.


2012 Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, Results, Selection of delegates
The Los Angeles Times described this effort by the Paul campaign as "part of a quiet strategy by Paul and his backers to amass an army of supporters at the GOP gathering in August in Tampa, Fla., to push Paul's views on liberty, states' rights, the monetary system and foreign policy." Some commentators noted that the Romney campaign was partly to blame for the delegate outcome, for their failure to mobilize supporters to participate fully in the Iowa nomination process.


2012 Iowa Senate election
The 2012 Iowa State Senate elections took place as part of the biennial 2012 United States elections. Iowa voters elected state senators in 26 of the state senate's 50 districts--the 25 even-numbered state senate districts and the 49th district. State senators serve four-year terms in the Iowa State Senate, with half of the seats up for election each cycle. This was the first election cycle following the 2010 census and 2011 redistricting process.


2012 Iowa Senate election
As a result of redistricting, many state senators were redrawn into new seats. This explains some incumbents being reelected, but into districts with new numbers following the redistricting process.


2012 Iowa Senate election
The primary election on June 5, 2012 determined which candidates appeared on the November 6, 2012 general election ballot. Primary election results can be obtained here.


2012 Iowa Senate election
Following the previous 2010 Iowa Senate election, Democrats maintained control of the Iowa state Senate with 26 seats.


2012 Iowa Senate election
To reclaim control of the chamber from Democrats, the Republicans needed to net 2 Senate seats.


2012 Iowa Senate election
Democrats kept control of the Iowa State Senate following the 2012 general election as the chamber's partisan composition remained unchanged with 26 Democrats to 24 Republicans.


2012 Iowa Senate election
State Senator Pat Ward was running in district 22 when she died on October 15, 2012, less than a month before the general election. A special election on Dec. 11, 2012 saw her seat retained by the Republicans.


2012 Iowa State Cyclones football team
The 2012 Iowa State Cyclones football team represented Iowa State University in the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Cyclones were led by fourth-year head coach Paul Rhoads and played their home games at Jack Trice Stadium. They were a member of the Big 12 Conference. They finished the season 6–7, 3–6 in Big 12 play, to finish in ninth place. They were invited to the Liberty Bowl, where they lost to Tulsa, whom they had defeated in the opening game of the season.


2012 Iowa State Cyclones football team, Rankings
In the preseason USA Today Coaches' Poll and Associated Press Top 25 Poll Iowa State didn't receive any points. In the week one (September 2) coaches poll Iowa State was ranked T–40th receiving 10 points. In the week one (September 2) AP poll Iowa State was ranked T–38th with 3 points. In the week two (September 9) coaches poll Iowa State was ranked 40th receiving 10 points. In the week two (September 9) AP poll Iowa State was ranked T–39th with 5 points. In the week three (September 16) coaches poll Iowa State was ranked T–31st receiving 29 points.