RUSH: I can’t tell you the number of people — and I stayed up all the way until they found the votes. My gosh, I thought I was watching the Democrats last night. Ninety-nine percent of the votes in and they can’t find the votes from two counties. They couldn’t find ’em. They didn’t know where the guy who had the votes was, and everybody knew what was going on. At this point Santorum held, what was it, an 18-vote lead. Everybody knew that what was going on here was a way to find a victory for Romney. So fine, the total number of votes doesn’t really matter. Santorum won last night. I mean that’s the bottom line here.

Romney did not increase over what he got in 2008 with a little bit higher turnout. In fact, there were fewer Republicans that showed up to the Hawkeye Cauci last time in 2008. There were more independents that showed up, and that was so they could vote for Ron Paul. And the last statistic I saw was that Santorum got the vast majority of the Republicans that voted in the cauci last night. Well, not a vast, but a 27, 25% majority over Romney. But people have been asking me, “Are you surprised?” I said, “No.” They said, “You’re not?” I mean I got e-mails all night and this morning. Let me go back to this program on December 14th. I just want to replay for you what America’s Anchorman — and could there be any other — said on that day from behind the Golden EIB Microphone.

RUSH ARCHIVE: I guarantee you there are a lot of people who hope somebody like Rick Perry comes back alive or hope that something happens in the Hawkeye Cauci that would launch Santorum or Bachmann. I guarantee you, there’s a lot of people saying the same thing either about one of the three. And there’s also a lot of fear that Ron Paul’s gonna win Iowa on the basis that he’s out there saying he wants to cut a trillion dollars from the budget. And people are ignoring the tinfoil hat foreign policy this guy’s talking about. They’re ignoring that for now. So, folks, my only point: This is nowhere near over. I know the polls make it look like it’s a two-man race, but it isn’t yet. We have not had a single vote cast.

RUSH: So back on December 14th, essentially I, your host, El Rushbo, predicted what everybody in the media was declaring: a Newt-Mitt race. I said, “Nope, it’s not gonna shape up that way. There’s still way too much that can happen.” Now, what has happened is Santorum, for all practical purposes, given expectations, was the winner last night. In Iowa, this always happens. The unexpected first or second place finisher, if it’s unexpected, is always the winner. Ron Paul coming in third as he did with as many independents, it’s over. This was not a big night for Ron Paul. You get down to brass tacks, it was a disappointment.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: I’ll tell you why. By the way, people are asking, “What about Perry?” There’s some confusion about that.

There was a tweet, you know, Perry last night said he’s gonna head back to Texas for prayer and reflection to figure out what he should do next. ‘Cause he spent a lot of money in Iowa, and it didn’t translate to votes. And the theory is that, you know, money didn’t translate to votes in Iowa, then it may not translate to votes anywhere else. And is it worth going into debt? Does he have a high enough base here to pull off what now would be a miracle? I hope he stays in. ‘Cause I told you I like Perry, and I like Santorum, and I told you countless times I know either one of those guys — and I said this about Bachmann as well — if any of them are elected president, I have no doubt whatsoever they are gonna be fighting for this country each and every day, no doubt whatsoever. I hope Perry stays in.

The confusion is that there was a tweet from the Perry camp that said the next leg of the marathon is the Palmetto State. Here we come South Carolina. Well, the indication was that Perry had prayed and reflected and had decided to stay in. But according to The Politico, a Perry spokesman, Mark Miner, said he didn’t know what the tweet indicated so things are still pretty shook up in the GOP field this morning in terms of Perry and what he’s gonna do. Now, Newt. Newt is ticked off. I don’t know how many of you stayed up late last night to watch the speeches. Joe Trippi made a good point last night. Santorum shoulda gone down at 11 o’clock and declared victory regardless where the vote count was and gotten his speech and his message done in time to make the late 11 o’clock news in the Eastern time zone and to be front and center. I don’t know why, but I’m guessing he didn’t do that because of propriety, not sure that he won so not gonna step on front-runner’s toes, this kind of thing.

I could be dead wrong about that, but Trippi had a good point, just go down there and declare victory. What are we gonna talk about here, you know you’re gonna be within 10 or 12 votes either side of the aisle so go down there and declare victory, just beat Romney to the punch. Anyway, nobody did. They all waited ’til after midnight when most people have cashed out and they’re betwixt and between the sheets.