only coricidin hbp has a heart, right here. it's the only cold and flu brand that won't raise your blood pressure. coricidin hbp. powerful cold medicine with a heart. >> welcome back to the iowa state capitol. here in des moines, iowa, where this race, the iowa caucuses is continuing at this hour. right now, 34 votes separate former senator rick santorum and former governor mitt romney. we are still waiting to hear why we don't have the end result. we had the associated press report this story early on -- that -- >> twice. >> that there was a truck driving from story county, and that is where iowa state university is located. i said university of iowa earlier -- >> wow. >> i got 50 emails. >> you are still not over that.

>> i'm not. there was a truck, he was driving, g.o.p. officials right now are saying they don't think that's true. but they are going to come out soon and tell us what the deal is. >> that's the problem. they haven't said anything. just to give you a frame of reference, four years ago, it took them -- well, the caucuses began at 8:00 eastern time and we had a winner, barack obama declared by 9:25 on the democratic side. we are an hour 5, just for those of you counting at home and no winner and no explanation for why there isn't a winner. it's a matter of doing the math, says one of the anchors who couldn't do the math all night i. i got there. >> i don't have the calculator or the votes. nonetheless, we don't know what the problem is, figuring it out with 99% of the precincts reporting. we expect that the g.alternated p. chairman will make an announcement soon, either of the winner or the reason why they don't have a winner. but we have no more candidates.

they have made their final speeches. both declaring victory. mitt romney congratulating everybody and rick santorum saying, game on. now we have to wait for the technical check in the box. but we have carl cameron, live at romney headquarters with inside skinny, i'm sure. carl? >> reporter: well, listen, we have been saying for weeks it's going to be a photo-finish. they are waiting for the film to develop. we have the horses and they have to see the difference. it's going to be awhile. mitt romney's going to go to new hampshire and find a whole new landscape, he's had a lead of 25, 30 points. it's going to shrink rapidly. as for rick santorum's windfall of cash that's expected, he will find problems putting that on the airwaves in the granite state. most of the inventory has been sold. romney has bought it up, as have other candidates. santorum was not doing a lot of advertising. there is an ability to get

advertising in boston. so unless, perhaps the super pac backing rick perry were to withdraw their support for him, while he's in austin, thinking about whether or not he's going to continue and transfer that to a santorum kind of a blitz, rick santorum will have a hard time matching mitt romney's air campaign. when santorum gets to new hampshire, he will spend a tremendous amount of time on the west side of manchester, new hampshire's largest city. and there are a large, large community of french canadian catholics on the west side of manchester, where rick santorum has spent a good deal of his campaign time. he has a county chairman in every new hampshire county. he has more state reps and state senators than any other candidate, except mitt romney. and he has the sheriff in mitt romney's own county where he has a vacation home on the lake. so the santorum people are not taking a back seat really to the

romney organization, though it is far superior. they believe that the bounce that santorum got here will make him almost immediately competitive. and there is a certain cantankerous think about the granite state, first in the nation voters. they love to turn on the winners in iowa. because mitt romney has been the favorite for 4 1/2, 5 years, there is a distinct possibility that the new-guy effect will really benefit rick santorum and you could see a big turn. and in new hampshire, they're independents. it's an open primary, so they can participate. the caucus process allows independents to register for today and change over, but frankly, it happens very, very rarely n. happen -- in new hampshire, it's more libertyarian and much less interested in conservative issues. romney has a moderate base, utr

but the social conservatives in right to life is going to aaline itself behind rick santorum aggressively. he will spend one day in south carolina. the battle in new hampshire will be very aggressive. mitt romney will stay overnight in iowa. he will do morning shows tomorrow here to talk about his victory. then he will fly to manchester, where he will have an event in manchester tomorrow afternoon. there is talk about more big-name endorsements for romney tomorrow. he will try to make himself look inevitable, but he will be fighting a tremendous amount of ink, the state's largest newspaper endorsed newt gingrich. he will go right at mitt romney aggressively. so look for two conservatives -- newt gingrich and rick santorum, to cample out in new hampshire and try to pummel mitt romney. the idea is to bring down what newt gingrich has called the massachusetts moderate. if not in new hampshire for a disappointing second place

finish, at least ding him up badly before he gets to south carolina. the finish line has been crossed. 49 more states to go. and two -- a whole new two-person race with a candidate who will be dubbed the conservative alternative, rick santorum against mitt romney. back to you in new york. >> karl rove, could you hand me that piece of paper? [chuckles] >> karl, through all the speeches by santorrum and perry, he has been working the computer, checking every district. this is what it has come dun to. it's obvious to me. but for those folk who is might not understand it. what have you come down with? what do you understand to be the case now? >> there are two precincts out. >> 2 of 274. >> one in clinton county, which is a county where romney leads santorrum and one in another county, where santorum leads romney. as you can see from the total,

santorum leads 34 votes. >> and given the size of the districts and the margins -- >> there are -- there were 1104 voters in clinton four years ago and there were... 393 in kiokak county. but there are more in clinton. but are there enough to erase a 34-vote lead? >> and the answer is? >> probably not. maybe. but probably not. >> you are saying santorum -- >> but by the skin of his chine chin chin or mitt romney. look, he's won the evening in terms of the guy with the story. >> in any case. exactly. that's what i was going to get to. it is now a santorum/romney race. obviously, huntsman is in new hampshire. gingrich is staying on. paul had a very credible showing. looks like perry and bachmann -- looks like -- may not stay in the race.

romney/santorum. your thoughts about that, going forward? first in new hampshire and beyond that? >> i think santorum will give him a run in new hampshire. i believe that. he's the incumbent because he was the governor of massachusetts, the frontrunner the whole time. new hampshire likes to sort of flip things around a little bit and santorum is a new, fresh face and i think he will get some traction. >> what about the fact that carl cameron made, there is not a lot of inventory for ads, so even if he gets an influx of money, the airwaves are controlled by romney. >> the free press that rick santorum earned him. you cannot overestimate how strong that's going to be rolling interest new hampshire. >> karl? >> i agree that new hampshire could upset the apple cart. it's less likely to happen with santorum. first of all, i don't think new

hampshire pays much attention to what happens in iowa. but jon huntsman is camped out there and working it desiduously and speaker gingrich with the state's leading newspaper, and as a result has almost a moral obligation to campaign actively in the next week. so... they are going -- originally, i thought people would be rick perry and to a lesser extent gingrich and santorum would be migrating. but they will have to show up in new hampshire and campaign. >> do you think romney comes out -- he didn't campaign very hard here until the last two weeks -- on the other hand, he was the frontrunner and it looks like he's certainly going to do no better than a tie, does he come out as a weakened frontrunner as a result of tonight? >> ronald reagan lost iowa in 1980 and won new hampshire and the nomination. i think, frankly, he did well in iowa tonight. but the story of the night is going to be the guy who was

never expected to be a winner, never expected to be in the top tier and that was santorum. the real story is that once again, this place has done two things. it's winnowed the field. bachmann out and perhaps perry out, gingrich damaged. and someone who has not been in the center of the stainless steel has the chance to jump in the middle and we will see how he handle its. >> before i get back, i want to -- let's talk. a lot of people, they haven't really thought a great deal about rick santorum. i am sure a lot of viewers prior to the polls coming out in the last week talked about a santorum surge... you know, hadn't really considered him. talk about his strengths and weaknesses as a presidential candidate? >> well, he's been a senator. so he has the strength and the weakness of a record in congress. for example, he was a leader in welfare reform. on the other hand, he's voted for and supported earmarks and pork for the state of pennsylvania. but he is a fresh face.

he will be a new face. as a result, people will have some excitement. he's a strong social conservative with a blue-collar attitude. you saw in the speech, talking about manufacturing. he's been more protectionist than most republicans have been and more interested in carving out special tax breaks for the manufacturing sector, as opposed to all business or all enterprise. >> your thoughts about santorum, as a... viable presidential candidate? >> look, i think this whole thing is about how weak a frontrunner romney is. and he -- he got his, you know, about the same thing he did four years ago. >> almost exactly. >> out of the box. but you have to ask yourself, in this field with all the problems in the field, where did all the -- literally two-thirds went for somebody else. it's the same problem he has in new hampshire. and i think, it's mostly saying, somebody wants to challenge -- they want a championer. they want somebody to take him

on and have the fight. right now tlooks like santorum may be filling that bill. >> so, as both of these gentlemen said, it's obvious that iowa hasn't settled anything. it has winnowed the field, which is what it traditionally does and may have set up a very interesting battle between santorrum and romney, going forward, at least in new hampshire. >> very interesting. right now, we have 18 votes, separating santorum and mitt romney, at this point. we can officially say from iowa g.o.p. officials that this story about the truck from story county is not true. that -- >> the story about story, that all of story county precincts are in. we are still expecting to hear what is taking so long for the rest of the numbers. but the truck is not a true story, according to iowa party officials. they plan to announce final votes. but when that happens is still

to be announced. >> i want to get thoughts on all of this by a democratic pollster. your thoughts as you watched the numbers in this razor-thin marge that i know santorum has tonight, nonetheless, a great night for him, no matter how it comes out. >> absolutely. he's come from single digits about a week ago and the volatility of this race to running even. and he's been untouched. that will end. i think he's romney's sparring partner. but we'll see. because he, tonight, if you look in the internals of the numbers, they are quite interesting. he is getting twice the vote of tea party activists, people who support the tea party and then who are not. he's not an anti-establishment candidate. he is the defender of earmarks and the supporter of romney. whatever. he's going to get hit on those things. ron paul has two groups of people. he carried moderate liberal

voters, 17% of the group, he carried 23% of independents about 8 to 1. he lost republicans. on the other hand, he won people who said they wanted a true conservative. so you have this real mixture. and romney won the big thing for him, which is he was electable, but he never drove that enough. i think you have two candidates left. but i think the real winner is obama because if gingrich is going to go and spend $9 million to get even and we are going to go to south carolina. and they are going to start calling each other liars and other things, i think this thing could be accelerating bitterness faster than any presidential race i have seen itch as we saw today, the reference to the gingrich referring to mitt romney as a liar and gingrich's words. it may seem impossible for some to believe, pat, but you mentioned that rick santorum was in single digits in iowa and you look at the clear politics average in new hampshire. rick santorum is 4%.

mitt romney is over 40 -- >> he'll be well into the high double digits by the morning. but the question is: how much he gets there? and as i said, he will be challenged -- he doesn't have the resources. but he is a new face. three weeks ago, two -- three weeks ago, newt gingrich was at 38%. as i have said to you before, we have this huge group of very -- people looking for something and they keep landing somewhere. they just landed -- rick santorum's lucky, they landed on him last. but he will have a tough problem. this is a man who lost a senate race by more than almost any incumbent in history in a re-election. it's going to have a hard argument on the winning. he's very sincere. but the social issue problem, we'll see how it works. i don't think in a general election, he has a prayer. the question is whether voters will see that -- >> but he has pointed out several times. i asked him about this earlier

this week on my afternoon show. he has pointed out that even though he is definitely about as far to the right as can get on social issues, he won twice in a state that is rather purposele. and -- purple. and has pointed out that he was electable in that state and he was well liked in that state, until he wasn't any longer. >> and it was by a huge margin. part of it is -- the dynamic of this year, politicalally, have you romney, who at least claims to be an outsider but is an establishment person, outsider if you will, non-washington. but the problem for santorum, he is the candidate that the discontented voters, people looking for something. he is not an anti-washington candidate. he has been part of the washington leadership. that is a tough sell. let's see how he plays that. but he had a great night. there is no two ways about it.

perry getting out is a help to him. >> pat caddell. >> as we wait official word, there are two precincts outstanding, one which is believed to be santorum territory and the other in clinton, believed to be romney territory. those are the two precincts outstanding and right now, 34 votes separate these two. 18 votes right nowf with 99% of the expected vote in. and now we take a live look at the convention center, waiting on the g.o.p. officials to make final word, once these two counties are finished counting. we will hear from the iowa g.o.p., right here at fox. it's 1:17 in the morning, eastern time. i wouldn't do that. pay the check? no, i wouldn't use that single miles credit card.

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>> taking a look live at the convention center, we are waiting an announcement from g.o.p. officials, on what, exactly? we can't tell you? will we get the results or an explanation as to why we don't have the results? we are hearing from john roberts that the iowa g.o.p. official came by and said he doesn't know where the results are, meaning why we don't have them yet. but there will be an announcement, if and when they find them is how he put it. we are not sure what that means. we have 99% of the vote in, as you can see there. there is a margin of 117 votes. rick santorum, in the lead over mitt romney.

sorry, 18 votes, thank you. here's the problem out here on the set. bret and i are way over in siberia. with a little monitor -- >> you made fun of the map for hours. >> i wasn't calculating. >> we need a visual thing, it's not a math thing. >> you can give them a wide shot? >> let's show them the monitor. >> see bret and i, way over here -- you can't seeive it. it's beyond the tv. we do things on the cheap sometimes here at fox news. we need a decent-sized monitor t. doesn't have to be a 42-inch t. but 27 inches. >> the math thing was funny, but now it's starting to get to me. it's 1:22 eastern time. we are punchy. we are waiting on two counties, clinton county and kioke

counties. we are back with the panel. steve, bill, kirstin. >> i think there are three take-aways. romney's inevitability, i think has vanished. he is the biggest candidate, but the idea that he can't be defeated when he's engaged, which he was, especially at the end here, i think is now good afternoon he doesn't have that to lean on. the second one -- ed rollins alluded to it but didn't develop it much. resources don't matter as much as everybody thinks. if they did, rick perry would have won iowa. he didn't. he came in fifth. resources matter, but looking forward, with the romney campaign's ground gain there, their organization, the money that they have, it all matters, but message matters, too. and rick santorum has a main that seems to have worked here. it worked for herman cain, for

rick perry and newt gingrich before him. a similar message, from the heart, visceral conserveatism that seems to have worked for him. i think that that carries him through new hampshire to south carolina. and the calendar, i think is friendly to rick santorum in some respects. have you january 10, have you new hampshire and january 21, have you south carolina. january 31, you have florida. then we have a pause. we have basically, a month. there is a sprint through january, where rick santorum is going to do everything he can to marshal his resources to generate additional enthusiasm, to capitalize on the momentum out of iowa. then he gets a break. then he can take the time to set up a national campaign organization, assuming he does reasonably well and he's well positioned to do -- to do pretty well in at least south carolina. and so that pause that, february pause becomes an interesting time where he can do the wowork that he wasn't able to do at 3

or 4% in the polls. >> you saw a lot of folks coming out in iowa, saying that electability matters to them -- a lot. what the republicans in iowa really want is somebody who can beat barack obama. can rick santorum appeal to enough independents and perhaps even disaffected democrats who are unhappy with barack obama, to peel them off from the democratic base? >> well, i think once -- if he became the nominee, he will be charactercatured and cast as a far-right person. he hasn't been on the receiving end of any kind of serious attacks. remember, the attacks are not just from other republican candidates issue the democrat party has been tearing down romney f. they have any sense that santorum could be a strong candidate, they are going to go to town on him. i think that they will probably be pretty effective because he is a very staunch conservative on a lot of issues. they're starting to do it

online, saying he wants to ban birth control because he said something about how states should be able to pass laws making birth control unavailable. i think they will take the issues and really participate a caricature of him. in terms of electability in the short run with the republican voters, i think that's what he has to convince them of. >> what do you think -- on issues like gay rights, abortion? i mean, he's about as far to the right as you can get, which may appeal to the g.o.p., in a year when they want to beat barack obama and appeal to moderates and independents, will they settle on him. >> there are two kinds of independents and swing voters. people like us tend to think of the upper middle class, socially liberal and independents in the suburbs of d.c. or new york or philadelphia who would prefer a romney to a santorum, as the polls are suggesting. thru is another kind of independent and one that rick

santorum could win over and mitt romney couldn't and that's the working-class, church-going, not so conservative on economic policy, maybe they need medicare, friend lier to government, anti-wall street, those swing voters voters in ohu could make a case that santorum could appeal more than romney and in 2000, george w. bush lost pennsylvania to al gore by 5 points. rick santorum beat his democratic point by 6 points. in a real race in a real state, pennsylvania, there were "x" number of democrats in the presidential level who switched to vote for santorum at the senate level. that proves that rick santorum can do it. in a presidential level, 12 years later, of course not. but it is not as easy to say that the guy's so right winger who has never won in a competitive state. >> a few things, steve, one is, it's amazing to put this all in perspective. the last race that rick santorum

ran in 2006, he lost by 18 points in pennsylvania to bob casey. now he's on the virge of winning the iowa caucuses. ron paul's campaign attacked him from the right, saying he is not conservative enough on second amendment and pro-life. meanwhile, we are talking about the left saying, he's over the edge and too socially conservative. while the focus is on the social conservatives, his stump speech focused on manufacturing and jobs. and that really seemed to strike a cord here in iowa, especially in the small towns -- and he went to a lot of them -- where they are hurting for jobs. >> no question. we heard him address exactly this group. this reference to president obama's dismissal of people clinging to god and guns in their religion was a great moment this that line, where he said, you know, thank god. that's exactly who he is talking

to. he went to his stump speeches. he makes an explicit appeal to reagan democrat, even calling them reagan in thees and makes the case in a broader electability argument, that i am the person -- not mitt romney -- he doesn't say romney -- but i am the person who can bring the second type of independents that bill is talking about. look, he can make a plausible case. that's why he gave the speech that he gave. i thought it was a compelling speech, at times, a moving speech. it's one reason that rick santorum may be able to go beyond this caricature that democrats will be trying to paint. and the argument he makes about his 2006 loss -- i don't think you can explain away an 18-point loss. it's a bad loss. the argument he makes is it was about the worst electoral environment for republicans ever. people had war fatigue, george w. bush didn't do well. democrat his a takeover of the house. he did very well in pennsylvania

and across the country. that's his defense, the context of the loss needs to be understood. >> what extent does santorum's role in spending and his fiscal policies in the u.s. senate, play a role here? because the club for growth came out and didn't give him high marcos tax cuts or as a conservative group or on spending. they talked about a mixed record, showing varying his vote, based on the election calendar and his voting being plagued by spending habits of the bush years. we have heard almost nothing and the exit or entrance polls show that are 34% said the federal budget deficit was the issue that mattered the most, outranked only by the economy. the voters care about. >> this they care more about the economy than the deficit. i agree. he's not a pure, small-government libertarian conservative. he was -- welfare reformer who

defended welfare reform, not on the grounds of saving money, but he said it would be better for poor families. so santorum will test whether his version of conserveatism may be more appealing than a pure, let's just balance the balance. worked 10 years ago. [chuckles] >> all right. panel, stand by. we are awaiting word from the iowa convention center. the polk county convention center. iowa g.o.p. officials are waiting on two could you wanties. the counting there. kio cook, i got the prenunciation from an iowan. as you look live at the convention center. we will be back after this break. we will get to the end of this caucus -- >> really? >> i promise you. >> okay. whee wheeeeeeeeeeeee! wheeeeeeeeeeee! whee whee wheeeeeeeeeeee-he-he-heeeeee!

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>> i also believe we as republicans have to look at those who are not doing well in our society, by just cutting taxes and balancing budgets. and that's where why i put forth a plan that iwanns responded it. to. it's a plan that says, yes, let's get a flat tax. let's create two rates, 10 and 28. why 28? if it's good enough for ronald reagan, it's good enough for me

[applause] >> former senator rick santorum, earlier tonight, i should say, early this morning, east coast time. as we wait for the final votes, apparently two precincts -- still the votes are looking for them. iowa county g.o.p. officials at the convention center, saying they will have an announcement when they find those votes. john roberts is there. john, help us? >> reporter: good, good, good morning to you. i am getting a definite sense of deja vu here. if i were standing in the rain in nashville and it was 2000 and it was november twould be complete. remember waiting for florida to come in? this is kind of like that. i talked to an official from the iowa g.o.p. and he said, we are looking for -- i said, i know. you are looking for the caucus

vote counts from keokuk and clinton. i said, where are you the ballots? he said, we don't know: what do you mean? you can't get in touch with the people? he said, yes, no, wait a minute. i'm not sure. there was a story about a truck? story. but that's not true. we don't know where the ballots are or when they will be coming in. but theyville an announcement to who won tthe margins are so close. there was a couple ofinances that i recall and don't press me for the exact instance, bret, because i can't recall it with that level of certainty. but i do remember that in one election, there was a precinct captain who took the results home, thinking they they had to deliver them the next morning. i don't want to say we will be here until the morning, but it appears that at this moment, the iowa g.o.p. has no idea where they are. >> okay. let me just be clear here. we are 18 votes separating first

and second, right now. rick santorum and mitt romney. >> reporter: that's your math or the official -- >> he's been watching. >> you have been watching. it's 18 votes. the g.o.p. says the tuck story from ames is not true, but they don't know where the two precincts' votes are? that's accurate? >> reporter: yeah. that would appear to be accurate. i talked to the one g.o.p. official and i said, can't you call the people who have these results? he said, well, as far as i know, we can't get in touch with them and he walked back a little bit. the truth be told, bret, we're getting into the wee hours of the morning and it's obvious by the way i'm talking, they don't seem to have any idea where the ballots are. i wouldn't be surprised if the precinct captain took them home. as i said, it's happened before. but hayare trying desperately, as you can imagine, to find them. as matt strom said, we are not having a recount, we are going

to put a button on this thing. i am sure they are rousing people from their sleep and knocking on doors to find out where the results are. >> this is a tough thing for the iowa g.o.p., actually. chairman strom wanted to get this wrapped up early in the night. obviously, the race didn't lend itself to that. but to have this is -- it's a tough finish. you can't have a recount in a caucus because each one of the precincts certifies those votes in the actual caucus site. >> the other question, john, i have is what if they cannot find the votes in those two counties in and they wake the guy up and he says, i delivered them and if you don't know where they are, it's not my problem and we are left this time tomorrow with no discovery or further information of where the ballots are. what do they do?! >> reporter: you know, i don't know the process in those two particular precincts. but statewide, thank goodness, they write these things down. there are no hanging chads to

deal with. they do write them down. they were supposed to enter it into a computer and send it to a central web site. it may be -- but there is pure speculation -- the people responsible for logging the results, maybe the email didn't get through or got caught in a spam filter, may be in that system and they have gone home, thinking the results were in. they do keep a record of it because this has to be certified by the iowa g.o.p., so somewhere in the great hawkeye state, there are the results from keokuk and clinton counties. and we will find out about them. it's just a matter of when. >> john, what's the atmosphere there at the convention center? reporters? i see people behind you. but who's still there? and are a lot of people waiting for these final 18 vote separation to get an answer on this race? >> reporter: there are not a lot of people who are waiting around for this. there is scputs major n, some of

the local affiliates, of course, are waiting for the results. but this room was filled with journalists from across the state, across the country and around the world. i would say that 90 to 95% have packed up and gone home. they decided they will hear about it on fox news, tomorrow morning. >> or this morning. you never know? john, thank you very much. >> we thought we would be -- the winner here tonight on this program. as it turns out, maybe i will announce it tomorrow on america live. >> sure. i was scheduled to be back in washington tomorrow. but we may be here when lawmakers are walking in i. we were joking that we will still be here in the morning. hey, how are you? can i get you some coughy? okay. we are a little punchy. it's 1:41, east coast time. we don't have a result. but we will continue to be on the air until we get one. >> officially? >> are we here officially? >> did you say that out loud?

>> okay. let's take a break here. we'll be right back. >> we are all working together because of our passion for this country and our concern that it's being led by a president who may be a nice guy but just is in over his head. i look at his campaign -- you know, four years ago tonight, he was giving a victory celebration speech, here in des moines. he had 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 have ever seen in my life. there he is, gordon jones, poised at this moment to discover new plum amazins from sunsweet, the amazing alternative to raisins and cranberries with 50% more fiber, about half the sugar, and a way better glycemic index. yes, that's the stuff. he's clearly enjoying one of the planet's most amazing superfruits. amazin' yes, plum amazins, 100% fruit with so much more nutrition and taste it's simply, amazin'.

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>> well, you're looking live now at the uss iowa. why? it's here. you have seen enough of us. [chuckles] >> this is right mind us, along with the bell i. wherate bell? over on that side. >> right. right behind us. it's a beautiful building here, the state house here in des moines, iowa. from the department, you can't really make this up, we are waiting to find out who won the iertion wacaucuses because it appears they lost the votes two of key counties -- in clinton and keokuk. there is an 18-vote difference between the candidates, santorum in the lead, above rom romp. but we don't know if he does in

fact have a lead because the two counties are outstanding. no one at the g.o.p. appears to know. they were unwilling to speculate. they are hoping that they may have an answer soon. and we are hoping that, too. but we have some good news -- >> just in... >> keokuk county -- or the precinct from keokuk county is now in. it is in. they have found the one of the two. john roberts reports from the convention center, that's the shot you were looking at live. one of two, they have found. and now waiting on clinton county, the precinct from clinton county. we are going to see what happens with that precinct. we are told that in the next 13 minutes or so, we should have either a result or... some determination that we won't have the result. at 1:47 eastern time. >> what's interesting to know is

how big are these counties? how many votes are outstanding, do we expect? >> hold on a second. 4 votes separate i. wow. >> sorry to interrupt, rick santorrum and mitt romney. >> it was 18, now it's down to 4. we want to go to new york with chris wallace, who has karl rove and joe trippi. karl, do we have knowledge of the counties and what sort of numbers we may be looking at in it terms of vote tally? >> we will get tobothat. but you heard bret say, good news because we have keokuk county in. not so fast! karl rove has an inside source and it turns out that it may be more than just clinton county. go ahead? >> well, a source at the republican national committee reports that they may have two precincts from story county, which is in central iowa, northeast of iowa, east of des moines, where the numbers

were incorrectly entered. and it may have undercounted the vote for rom ro. but we had keokuk county come in. this was a county where santorum was leading romney. and joe trippi and i both expected that this would expand the lead for santorum. instead, it collapsed it from 18 to 4 . the one precinct that is out is in clinton county, where romney is beating santorum in 2008, there were 1104 voters in clinton and there were 393 in keokuk county. keokuk is now all in. we are likely to see a larger than normal presirveght out. this could see romney erasing the 4-vote gap and move slightly ahead. >> we are talking about two issues now. clinton county, which is, as you say, last time was 1100 votes in the precinct i. 1100 votes countywide. >> countywide.

>> we don't know how many in the precinct. but it's likely to be a larger precinct than -- >> and it tilted romney last tite time? >> it tilted romney, the county itself is going for romney over santorum this time. >> the other quo is story county and there may be under-counting there. >> somebody may have transposed digits and undercounted romney's vote. they do go back and check, double-check these results resud someone may have identified a mathematical error. >> we will have to take a quick break theor and try to sort this out some more, after this message. blatch i'm trading everywhere... on one of the most powerful mobile apps out there. i'm trading here every day. and i'm customizing everything.

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>> so, resuming our coverage of the iowa caucuses at 1:pour in the morning, eastern time. but of course, who is counting? there are at this point, 122,106 votes have been counted and the difference between rick santorum and mitt romney is 4 votes.

yes, 4 votes of 122,000. one precinct is out in clinton county. we just heard from some of the vote counters, they believe there are 75 votes in that precinct. >> if mitt romney wins that precinct, that vote by the same margin he is carrying the county, five percentage points over rick santorum, we will have a dead even tie. that will mean he will pick up 4 votes, statewide on rick santorum and it will be a dead-even tie. >> again, quickly, to repeat about story, there is the issue? >> story county, the republican sources at the republican national committee say there is some discussion that two precincts in story county that the vote totals were inaccurately entered and that when they are corrected, it will increase mitt romney's vote total. but this is just all speculation inside the republican national committee. >> have you 30 seconds, joe trippi, to say anything you

want. >> i am amazed about tonight. i have never seen anything like this, nothing this close and for -- but i would say, look, rick santorum, whether he gets edged out by a few votes or not, he won the night. it was an amazing, come-from-nowhere victory. >> it is an extraordinary vote. though the one criticism you have, joe, is that you say that -- these republicans should all be getting on planes, flying all night to be at factory gates tomorrow morning? >> i have never come out of iowa not been on a plane right now, heading to new hampshire, any of the campaigns i have worked on. it's what you should be doing right now. you show up. you are in the morning, rick santorum should be there, showing he's fighting. >> thank you, both. it's clear as mud here in new york. back to you, bret ndes moines. >> quickly, fox news.com and take a look at this, jon huntsman, 744 votes, herman

cain, 58 votes. we have 4 votes separating first and second, currently. we'll be back after this. 7@