Distribution of votes in the 2012 US presidential election
Iowa caucus and then mount a considerable nationwide campaign. As the primaries progressed, Santorum saw some early gains, even becoming the favorite to win for a short while, but Romney eventually pulled ahead and was named as the Republican nominee. Gary Johnson, one of the early Republican nominees, was the third party candidate with the largest impact, running for the Libertarian Party.
The 2012 US presidential election was contested between incumbent President Barack Obama of the Democratic Party, and the Republican nominee Mitt Romney. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were re-nominated by their party with little opposition, while the Republican primaries were much more competitive. Romney emerged as an early frontrunner, but was seen by many in the Republican Party to be too moderate, therefore a number of more conservative candidates were put forward by the party. The large number of candidates spread much of the Republican support to Romney's opponents, and allowed Rick Santorum to surprisingly win in the