Breaking News: Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee Wins Iowa Caucus for Republican Party

On CNN at 9pm Eastern Time, Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee was named the winner of the Iowa caucus for the Republican Party, winning 38% of the vote. The Republican Party caucus in Iowa is unlike the Democratic Party caucus because candidates do not need to receive 15% of the vote. Voters simply vote for any candidate of their chosing and the results are tallied.

Huckabee was outspent by several million dollars compared to Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in Iowa but Iowa voters chose to support Huckabee instead. Romney came in second in the polls, followed by John McCain and then Fred Thompson. Romney had spent over six million dollars trying to gain the most votes in Iowa and in initial polls earlier in the year had a large lead in Iowa. However, Huckabee's recent surge in the past month helped him tremendously in the polls.

As for the Democrats, the race was too soon to call as the top 3 candidates all polled nearly identical in the polls with about 30% of precints numbers reported. Clinton, Edwards and Obama were all polling at 32% of the vote.

Mike Huckabee's victory will surely impact the upcoming primaries and affect voter decisions. The next primary is January 9 in New Hampshire, Romney's home state.