reporting. it is a virtual tie between rick santorum and mitt romney. we ve already heard from ron paul. he s coming in third. newt gingrich, we heard from him. he s coming in fourth. we heard from rick perry, a dramatic change. the texas governor not going to south carolina. as he originally anticipated. he s going back to texas to reassess whether he should continue in this campaign. michele bachmann, we heard from her. she says even though she s come in a very, very disappointing 5%, virtually last, she says she s going to continue. we ll see if she does. jon huntsman didn t really campaign in iowa, he s campaigning in new hampshire. he s not dropping out. a dramatic night, indeed. it doesn t get much closer than this. let s go over to cnn s john king over at the magic wall. first of all, john, rick perry, i think it s fair to say, all but announcing it s over for him. he said he was going back to texas to reassess. he s going to sit down with the team, look at the polls
little fun. we did. yes. and oddly, the fun apparently is continuing, because we are still on the air. yes. long after we thought we wouldn t be. right. in the special cnn after dark edition. so gloria, in terms of tomorrow, i mean we will find mitt romney you mean today. today. a few hours from now, mitt romney will head it new hampshire as well as rick santorum. right, romney is going to new hampshire where he has a sizeable lead. he is clearly the favorite in new hampshire. he is going it say he s got the wind at his back. you are talking about, like 47%. right. we have a brand new poll that came out tonight. 30% ahead. 30% ahead, right? if you are mitt romney to nate, you are thinking, okay, rick santorum doesn t have a lot of national potential. ron paul doesn t have a lot of national potential. so if the top three if he could have picked the top three, these are the three would he have picked. in this order. certain lit fact that perry,
cafe. and official, a few hours ago, mitt romney, 30,015 votes. santorum om eight votes behind, and both candidates coming out to speak before the final votes came in last night. romney moved on. his eyes on the big prize. take a listen. you are working, i am working and we re all working together because of our passion for this country and a concern led by a president who may be a nice guy but just is over his head, and i look at his campaign you know, four years ago tonight he was giving a victory celebration speech here in des moines, and he d been going across the state making all sorts of promises. the gap between his promises four years ago and his performance is as great as anything i ve ever seen in my life. mitt romney, he was talking there about president barack obama, but, really, it s rick santorum who he s talking to, we ll speak to, a big endorsement from john mccain and he beat mitt romney back in 2008. and coming up just short built on that traditional
the real winner in the caucuses, though it may have certainly been rick santorum who truly, within eight votes just missed the top spot. take a look at those numbers on your leaderboard. it s just absolutely miraculous. the closest iowa caucus vote in history. the top four, mitt romney, santorum, ron paul and newt gingrich. and it didn t become official until about 2:30 eastern time this morning if you were watching. so we have romney congratulating santorum. and he says that he and santorum are actually both winners. and both candidates are looking forward now to new hampshire, they say. but what s great about this is the story that comes out of such an incredibly close finish because you know what? it s about momentum. and it s about money. and it s about headlines. and those headlines tonight are bizarro. christine romans, you ve been breaking down these headlines. we ve been on the edge of our seats because we wasn t sure what the big story was going to be, and the bi
primary of 2012. to learn more, or find an authorized retailer near you and the governor holds a huge visit tempur-pedic.com. lead in the polling in contrast to iowa where he squeaked out a tempur-pedic the most highly recommended bed in america. victory in the caucuses last night by the smallest margin of any presidential contest ever. much more on that in a moment. the guy whose job romney wants is right now in the suburb of cleveland to talk about the economy. we will hear from president obama live at a quarter past the hour. hours after the sixth-place finish in iowa, michele bachmann says that her campaign is finished or technically suspended. the minnesota congresswoman who was born in iowa and who won a straw poll there in august cancelled a trip to south carolina today for this announcement. so last night, the people of iowa spoke with a very clear voice, and so i have decided to stand aside. i believe that if we are going to repeal obama care, turn our country ar