Mitt Romney: No landslide in Iowa caucus win

Reporting from Des Moines and Manchester — Mitt Romney readied for the next phase of the GOP campaign Wednesday after the narrowest of victories in Tuesday’s Iowa caucuses, boarding his campaign charter flight to New Hampshire to hugs and cheers from his staff.

Romney, running on just two hours sleep after a longer-than-expected vote count, acknowledged the slim margin of victory as he spoke with reporters before taking off.

“I think landslides are terrific. I just didn’t see that in last night’s figures,” he said.

The former Massachusetts governor said he and his family learned of his eight-vote win in the first nomination fight of the 2012 race from their hotel suite. He had spoken with second-place finisher Rick Santorum earlier in the night.

“We didn’t know what the final number would be. We congratulated each other on a good race,” he said.

He also spoke with most of the other Republican candidates, with one notable exception -- Newt Gingrich.

“We tried to reach out to everybody. We didn’t get to everybody. I’m sure we’ll get the chance,” he said.

Gingrich, who finished fourth, has been harshly critical of Romney in recent days, still stinging from a deluge of attack ads that a “super PAC” supportive of Romney ran in Iowa in the final weeks.

Gingrich, speaking with MSNBC from New Hampshire this morning, spun the outcome as a setback for Romney.

“Three out of four Republicans once again repudiated Mitt Romney,” he said. “This is not a conservative Republican. He will not win the Republican nomination.”