NPR News

The AP is reporting that Rep. Michele Bachmann has cancelled a campaign trip to South Carolina. Bachmann ended last night with just five percent of the vote, ahead of only Jon Huntsman, who didn't compete in the state.

Bachmann campaign manager Keith Nahigan would not tell the AP whether Bachmann intends to drop out.

NBC News' James Novogrod reports on Twitter that Bachmann has also scheduled a press conference for 11 a.m. ET.

We've been helping our friends at It's All Politics on the big story of the morning, which, as you've no doubt heard, is that after a nail-biter of a night, Mitt Romney took the Iowa primary by eight votes. Rick Santorum pulled a surprising turn around to end up second.

Here's some of the territory we've covered on IAP:

Several news outlets, including the AP and The New York Times, report that Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., will endorse Mitt Romney.

Rick Santorum's impressive turnaround in Iowa has given him a slight boost in New Hampshire, according to a "flash" poll conducted last night.

The CNN/ORC International poll talked to 554 likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire first in December, and then last night. It found that Mitt Romney's sizable lead remained the same: 47 percent of those polled said they'd vote for him, followed by Ron Paul at 17 percent.

NPR News has prepared a special podcast on the first presidential contest of the year — and where the race goes from here.

The podcast includes highlights from NPR's reporting from the Iowa caucuses as well as analysis of the potential impact. You'll hear from the candidates — several of whom count themselves among the winners — plus others who are reassessing their chances. Republican caucusgoers weigh in on how they made up their minds, and we hear from Democratic caucusgoers preparing for battle in the fall.

At the start of his show yesterday morning, MSNBC's Chuck Todd could not contain his glee: "It's caucus day. Finally! I've been waiting for this day for 3 1/2 years."

Speak for yourself, Chuck.

In the build-up to the Iowa caucuses, we heard about the ground game, the expectations game, the endorsement game, and the super PACs. And we get the justification: It's blood sport, it's a vetting process, it's a surge, it's a generous slathering of awesome on an Iowa corn dog.

Erik McBee, 15, faced a test of his survival skills. He was traveling on Southwest Airlines, and fell asleep. He slept through the landing at his destination, Tulsa. KPHO TV says he woke up in St. Louis with no contacts, no money and no phone.

Transcript

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Linda Wertheimer. A British woman had a break-in in September. Thieves stole a life-size statue of E.T., the extraterrestrial from the famous film. She thought it was gone for good until last week, when a passerby saw it floating in a river and called the police. They reunited the statue with its owner. So, a little late for the holidays, a little soggy, E.T. finally did phone home. You're listening to MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.

You might think that after a spectacular night of political drama, one in which Mitt Romney eked out an eight-vote victory over Rick Santorum in Iowa, we might have a little more to tell you than the GOP field is just as unsettled as it was before the caucuses.