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CITY (NewsDakota.com) Republican interest in the 2012 Republican Presidential Caucus showed nearly a 400% increase over the 2008 caucus participation in District 24 Tuesday.

District 24 Caucus Chairman Stan Hansen says Rick Santorum squeaked out a narrow win over Ron Paul in the local voting garnishing 73 out of the 216 votes cast at the Valley City and Enderlin caucus sights. 2nd place went to Ron Paul with 69 votes followed by Mitt Romney with 44 and Newt Gingrich with 16.

Rick Santorum received 36 percent, Ron Paul 34 percent, Mitt Romney 21 percent and Newt Gingrich with 7 percent in District 24 voting.

In District 29 Rick Santorum got 41 percent, Mitt Romney 23 percent, Ron Paul 20 percent and Newt Gingrich received 14 percent of the vote on Tuesday.

Statewide, 11,349 people voted in the caucus, a 16.4 percent increase from 2008 according to the North Dakota Republican Party.

Rick Santorum won the state with 4,510 votes (39.7 percent). Ron Paul was second with 3,186 votes (28.1 percent); Mitt Romney received 2,691 votes (23.7 percent) and Newt Gingrich had 962 votes (8.5 percent).