First Posted: 1/5/12 09:37 PM ET Updated: 1/5/12 10:04 PM ET
ReactWINDHAM, N.H. -- Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum said he was "not surprised to hear" that the vote total for ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney may have been overcounted by 20 in the final tally of Iowa caucus-goers, but both he and his campaign were declining to weigh in on the story that broke Thursday night.
Speaking to a large gathering of New Hampshire voters at Windham High School, the Pennsylvania Republican said he was unaware that a local television station in Iowa had aired a report on a potential vote count discrepancy that would alter the winner of the caucus two days ago.
The station, KCCI, reported that in Appanoose County, a vote-counter had discovered an inconsistency between the number of the 50 votes he had monitored and what the Republican Party of Iowa had recorded.
"When Mitt Romney won Iowa by eight votes and I've got a 20-vote discrepancy here, that right there says Rick Santorum won Iowa," said the vote-counter, Edward True, 28. "Not Mitt Romney."
A spokeswoman with the Iowa Republican Party did not immediately address True's assertion, but stressed that he was not a precinct captain and was not authorized to discuss the vote. The 20-vote discrepancy remained, late Thursday, unconfirmed.
But by the time Santorum had left the stage, word had gotten to him and his aides that he may have been the winner of the Iowa caucus after all. Asked for reaction by the Huffington Post, he replied:
"We were ahead and they told us that 20 votes were undercounted for Romney and that's what changed it. So, I'm not surprised to hear that. We will see what happens."
