this morning on "early today," close call. gop presidential candidate mitt romney and rick santorum battled it out in iowa in one of the closest caucuses in history. hands up. a modern-day bonnie and clyde crime spree plays out in the western desert. and strange new world. scientists discover a lost world of marine life in warm waters beneath the antarctic. captions paid for by nbc-universal television hello, and very good morning to you. welcome to viewers across the

nation, including the pacific time zone. by a nose at the wire. mitt romney has beaten rick santorum in iowa, with just eight votes to spare. one republican candidate is considering whether or not to abandon his quest for the white house. nbc's tracie potts is in des moines with the latest. >> reporter: veronica, good morning. santorum's almost victory is the big story. but mitt romney walks away with bragging rights. he was able to claim victory. this was so close, we had to wait until the very last vote was counted. >> congratulations to governor mitt romney, winner of the 2012 iowa caucuses. >> reporter: hours after the candidates spoke, iowa republicans called it. mitt romney wins by just eight votes. >> this is a campaign night where america wins. on to new hampshire. >> reporter: senator john mccain is expected to endorse romney in

new hampshire today. >> thank you so much, iowa. >> reporter: a big win for rick santorum. he got 25% after polling in single digits a few weeks ago. >> we'll be in new hampshire, leave tomorrow, we'll spend our time there. and with your help, and god's grace, we'll have another fun night a week from now. >> reporter: ron paul came in third and thanked an enthusiastic crowd of supporters. >> we will go on, we will raise the money. >> reporter: romney's biggest challenge may come from newt gingrich, who vowed to fight negative ads. >> it may be more of a comment on his record than politics. >> reporter: coming in next to last, rick perry announced he is suspends his campaign. >> with the voters' decision tonight in iowa, i have decided to return to texas, assess the results of tonight's caucus, determine whether there is a

path forward for myself in this race. >> reporter: michele bachmann came in dead last, but gave no indication that she is quitting. >> i am a true conservative that can and will defeat barack obama in 2012. >> reporter: republicans moving on to new hampshire with a virtual tie at the top. so santorum got 25% and so did romney. interestingly, the smallest percentage win in an iowa caucus in over three decades. >> absolutely amazing. what does coming in second do for rick santorum moving forward now? >> reporter: it certainly puts him at a different level than when he was in single digits a few week ago. now he's able to reintroduce himself to the electorate going into new hampshire, which is very important for him, and his chances, but also and this is really important. it allows him to excel even further in fund-raising. he will likely get many more

donations coming out of this. very strong second place finish and that will propel him further into the nominating process. >> tracie potts in des moines for us. thank you so much. now here is a look at other stories making news today in america. a murder rouse crime spree by a modern-day bonnie and clyde came to an end in nevada on tuesday. they gave up after a fight after an air unit spotted them wandering in a desert. they allegedly killed an elderly couple in their utah home and shot a woman in the head during an attempted carjacking in nevada. the couple faces numerous charges. a coalition between a tractor-trailer and jeep led to a multi-vehicle crash on a dallas highway. the initial crash caused the truck to crash into a concrete median divider and crash on two other cars. one person was hospitalized. a georgia neighborhood is

beginning look like a scene from a famous hitchcock movie. residents have invaded by a flock of turkey vultures. hundreds have been spotted on trees, roofs and backyards. wild life officials are assessing the rather spooky situation. look at that shot there, hmm. now a look at national and regional weather. we have bill karins with the weather channel forecast. i was looking at the story. i thought it said turkey. but, no, turkey vultures. >> usually something is not alive when they are not around. you don't want them circling you or your town. as far as weather goes around the nation, a very quiet forecast. cold in the east, cold in the no northern plains. a couple of cold spots in the rockies with clear skies. a nice afternoon. not many places in the entire country dealing with rain or snow. buffalo, new york, snow flurries

the last couple of hours and a little bit of rain up here. barely clipping extreme portions of washington state and that's it. it is dry everywhere else around the country. about as precip free as you will get it. the storm system tracking to the north. british columbia coastline. and the rainfall predictions aren't as high today as they were yesterday. and we'll get decent rain up around bellingham. radar filling in pretty good along the coast with light rain. probably won't see two, three, four-inch totals. maybe at most, in the high terrains, possibly two inches. light amounts in the puget sound olympics, and we'll see some of the higher totals. light rainshowers make their way on shore down around portland, yoeshg, coastline. and 81 and sunny.

head up to central valley, mid 60s. no complaints. veronica, looking really nice in some areas. i know you get really upset when the windchill is zero here. >> if i had a dollar for every time you said l.a. is 80 and sunny. it's so unfair! stocks surge, data shines and starbucks hikes prices. uh-oh. early morning business headlines straight ahead. who is the friend katy perry is turning to during her breakup with russell brand? an upset, controversial call, and overtime in the sugar bowl. you're watching "early today."

very good morning to you. welcome back to "early today." i'm veronica de la cruz.

here are top headlines this morning. the taliban literally setting up shop in qatar. they are opening an office to hold peace talks with the u.s. the two sides have met privately before, but this is the first time that taliban has expressed interest in negotiating. israeli and palestinian negotiators didn't go very far, but they agreed to keep talking. they met in jordan to discuss future talks between benjamin netanyahu and mahmoud abbas. an army special forces engineer arrested after trying to bring a c-4 explosive on board a commercial airline said he forgot it was with him. he was arrested at the airport in midland, texas. he didn't realize the explosive was still in his luggage when he left afghanistan in april. a new year surprise off antarctica. researchers uncovered new

species in an underwater hot spring, including a colony of yeti crab and this pale octopus. so cool. here is an early look at one of the top health headlines at msnbc.com. according to a new study, scientists may slow down aging with a simple injection of youth stem cells as they have done with mice. they were jered to make a rare human disease that brings premature aging. when they were injected with muscle stem cells, the frail mice began looking and acting younger. for more information on this and other health stories, head to the web. check it out at msnbc.com. early today health brought to you by vagisil wash. the confident clean. dow opens at 12,397 after rising 179 points yesterday. s & p climbs 19.

nasdaq jumped 43. overseas trading, in tokyo, nikkei up 104 points. hang seng dipped 150 points in hong kong. fueled by positive economic news, wall street started out the new year tuesday with a bang. money managers with fresh cash to spend were buying. banks, materials, and industrials posted big gains. data was the main driver. manufacturing grew in december at strongest pace since june. november's construction spending surged to the highest in 18 months. also overseas, germany reported last year's unemployment average was the low nest two deest in t. in china, manufacturing grew in december. oil surged over $4, to almost $103 per barrel on iran tensions. coal-related stocks, led by james river coal, peabody, and

others jumped on last week's court ruling delaying new air regulations. and chesapeake sold to total for $2.3 billion. devon jumped at cinapac's option. and bad news for caffeine lovers. starbucks raised prices in the north and southeast. and finally, after a lengthy legal battle, an african-american church in columbia, south carolina, is the rightful owner of a building where the red neck shop is located, a store selling racist ku klux klan memorabilia. he wants to close that store and use the building to hold services. top ranked battles in college hoops and down to the wire nba action, and the replay took center stage at the sugar

bowl between virginia tech and michigan. both hanging on. a ruling over this play. early morning sports headlines straight ahead. and the coldest air of the winter season heading up much and a warmup is beginning. forecast is coming up. you're watching "early today."

very good morning to you. if you are just waking up, this is "early today" in sports, last night a season that saw the michigan wolverines march back to prominence in college football came to a fitting conclusion. here is fred roggin with a look at all your sports headlines. good morning. say what you want about the bcs, but each bowl this year has come down to the final play. the sugar bowl, down to the wire. virginia tech rallied down from 11 points. justin meyer nailed the chip shot to force overtime. the hokies prepared to take the lead in o.t. thomas to cole. and great effort to haul it in and keep a foot inbounds. however, they reviewed it, overturned the touchdown. they would have to settle for a field goal. meyers shanked it and wolverines took advantage. 3 2 23-20 to wolverines in overtime.

in basketball, ryan evans tied it with a three at the buzzer, or did he? evans didn't get the shot off in time, but it all spends which clock are you looking at. shot clock at zero, stadium clock had .2 of a second. they reviewed it, waved the basket off. the spartans escape with an overtime win. gorgeous than theodore, all 19 points in the second half. set on hall upset uconn, 75-63. nba, bulls scored 26 in the first half of the hawks. then they decided to show up. 35 in the fourth quarter aloaning hawks let this one slip away. >> and after winning their first five, the thunder have lost foif straight. frustration bowled over. kendrick perkins and aldridge tangled up. trailblazers hand the thunder

their second loss in as many days. 103-93. early look at sports on "early today." i'm fred roggin. which singer says she won't be an actress, and which actress has been knighted by france? early morning entertainment headlines straight ahead. one election in iowa, where afterward all of the candidates were eaten. you're watching "early today."

welcome back. today's forecast, looks pretty nice. tomorrow is the same too. really only watching wet weather and rainy weather in the pacific northwest. chance of showers, seattle, portland, over the next two days, nothing really changes. big area of high pressure locked over the intermountain west. the flow keeps it mild, even at coastal locations in southern california. you get the air coming in off the land instead of the water. temperatures near the coast will be nice and mild. enjoy it. watching us on king 5 news in seattle, washington, in nearby bellevue, experience music, lights, and the whirling of toys at midway at the bellevue arts museum. pacific event of the day. >> that was really interesting. >> a little different. >> definitely different. but pretty cool. an early look at headlines in entertainment. reports say katy perry is leaning on rihanna during her split from russell brand. the singer, who arranged perry's

bachelorette party is planning a girl's getaway. brand never took to rihanna, because he blamed her for perry's partying ways. for christmas, twilight's kristen stewart bought robert pat isson two vintage guitars. and in a move raising eyebrows. salma hayek is named a knight. her husband is the billionaire ceo of a fresh company. and at least one material girl direction lady gaga won't go in. acting. she insists she is just a musician. going back to the whole russell brand/katy perry thing and we have been talking about this for days now. have you noticed that ever since rihanna broke up with chris brown, she has changed a lot.

i don't feel like she was a parti partier. i think that she -- >> now she is. >> i think she lost her mind a little bit. just kidding. i really like her. >> but blaming the friend for the divorce? >> come on, russell brand. this from who channel 13 news in des moines, iowa. where students in des moines, iowa, experienced democracy at work in its sweetest form. fifth graders received a crash course on the iowa caucus on tuesday. they organized a cookie caucus. they put together commercials, gave speeches and campaigned for their favorite cookie. the classy elected shock late chip over sugar and m & m. they went on to eat all of the candidates. bill wants a recall. >> first stop of the day on your nbc space, this is "early today."

china is gearing up for its 28th annual snow and ice feast val. it took 16 days for a workforce of 15,000 to construct massive ice castles for the festival. with disney-themed sculptures and long ice slides, they hope the park attracts more than 1.1 million visitors that it drew last year. also in china, thousands turned out to see some death-defying stunts. dizzying sky high stunts capped off a three-day motorcycle tournament. they pulled off jaw-dropping acrobatic feats.

it was made more thrilling by cameras mounted on bikes. oh, yikes! kind of scary too. tech idol steve jobs being immort immortalized, and an action figure is being hawked by a tiny toy company. the realistic doll, sporting a trademark black turtleneck and the ever present stool that stood on stage. and the bock drop carrying the phrase one more thing. that is -- too close i think. eerily resembles him to the point of it being freaky. >> a little bit. you see it looked a lot like him? >> i think it does. china knees a needs to put out karins doll. >> oh, no. not a talking one. the man accused of sitting setting 50 fares in l.a. makes his first court appearance.

and a turning point in the watergate scandal took place 38 years ago today, when president richard nixon refused to handle over tape recordings and documents. nixon would resign presidency later that year. and happy birthday to nfl hall of fame coach don shula. the winningest coach in college football turns 82 today. happy birthday. all day long, stay on top of the very latest developments on those stories and others as they break on msnbc. tonight, watch brian williams with nbc nightly news. and what's coming up on "today" show. after last night's tight race, gop front-runners mitt romney and rick santorum speak out in live interviews. donald trump weighs in and will be unveiling the new cast of "celebrity apprentice." keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports, and much more. i'm veronica de la cruz, thank you for watching.

your first stop of the day on your nbc station. have a terrific wednesday.