By Jessica Hopper
Rock Center

The day after the Iowa caucuses, at least one presidential contender, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, has dropped out of the race and another, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, has vowed to fight on despite a disappointing finish in the Hawkeye state.

Bachmann received only 5 percent of Iowans' votes.  

"I have decided to stand aside," Bachmann told her supporters at a press conference this morning.  "We must rally around the person that our country and our party and our people select to be that standard bearer, but make no mistake, I'll continue to be a strong voice."

On Tuesday, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney narrowly edged out former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum by just 8 votes in Iowa. 

The Iowa caucuses have long been venerated as the first big contest in the presidential nomination race with the outcome spelling the beginning of the end for some presidential contenders and giving a much needed surge to others.

“I think Iowa deserves to be the first in the nation caucus,” said Kyle Munson, a columnist for The Des Moines Register.  “We’re a well-educated state... We’re well dispersed state population wise. People can really meet with voters, I think. And we’re becoming more and more diverse, counter to the perennial claim of us being too white or too ultra conservative, so I think it’s a very representative state if you take the time to look at it.”

A record number of Iowans participated in the caucuses Tuesday with 122,255 people voting.  Ron Paul finished third among the GOP pack with 21 percent of the vote.  Newt Gingrich finished fourth.  After last night’s results, Texas Gov. Perry, who placed fifth, returned to Texas to reassess his campaign, but announced in a tweet this morning that he will continue on.

Munson of The Des Moines Register has watched Iowa become the center of attention over the last few months, with pundits questioning how much significance should be given to Iowa’s caucuses.  Despite all of the media attention paid to its first-in-the-nation status, in the last 40 years, only one GOP candidate has won in Iowa and gone on to win the presidency.

“Right now, the national media, the New York Times, all sorts of outlets are filled with assessments of Iowa and what’s Iowa really like and who are these people picking the next president,” said Munson. “I think we’re willing to listen to different opinions, it’s just do they have a kernel of truth in them?”

The criticism that seems to have caused the most uproar among Iowans came from a resident-- Stephen Bloom, a University of Iowa journalism professor who has lived in the state for 20 years. Bloom’s article, “Observations From 20 Years of Iowan Life,” was published online in The Atlantic in December. The article went viral and quickly mushroomed into outrage among Iowans.

Bloom called Iowans “an assortment of waste-toids” and said rural Iowa consists of the “elderly waiting to die” and “meth addicts with pale skin and rotted teeth.”  He defended his article as a form of parody and satire in an interview with Rock Center’s Willie Geist.

"Iowa isn't a place that's representative of America and why then should it be the springboard for the national presidential election," Bloom said.

Munson said it’s fair to start a conversation about Iowa’s role in the presidential nomination process.

“I think Stephen Boom’s article hints at some good questions about the declining population and economic  fortunes in rural Iowa, the brain drain of our youth, but the problem is they get buried under the way he’s mangled some of the facts and the mean spirited nature of his prose,” Munson said.

Several of the GOP presidential contenders are moving their campaign efforts to New Hampshire today where the next primary is scheduled, but just how much of what happened in Iowa predicts what will happen in New Hampshire?

Since 1980, the Iowa caucuses have correctly predicted the GOP presidential nominee twice.  The New Hampshire primary has had a slightly better track record, correctly predicting the GOP nominee three times since 1980. It’s rare for both the winner in Iowa and New Hampshire to be the same, but no Republican presidential candidate has won the nomination without either winning in New Hampshire or Iowa. The South Carolina primary, scheduled just 11 days after the New Hampshire primary, may be the most telling.  Every winner of the South Carolina GOP primary since 1980 has gone on to win the Republican nomination.

CHARLESTON, S.C. – As Rick Santorum’s supporters celebrated his strong Iowa showing, they were also making preparations for a push through South Carolina that will begin even before the New Hampshire primary vote.

Andrew Burton / Getty Images

U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum addresses a crowd in Iowa on Jan 3.

Santorum’s South Carolina fans, some of whom were gathered at his relatively well-appointed campaign headquarters to watch the caucus returns, will be able to see him in the Palmetto State on the afternoon of Sunday, Jan. 8th, when he stops in Greenville just two days before the New Hampshire vote.

His campaign also added another South Carolina staffer: political consultant Andrew Boucher, a former executive director of the New Hampshire Republican primary – a ramping-up of staff that suggests Santorum will seek to capitalize on his Iowa momentum here, a state that has picked every Republican presidential candidate since 1980.

Recommended: 11 things you might not now about Santorum

Santorum’s supporters, about 15 of whom remained at the headquarters as the final votes trickled in, were ecstatic about his neck-and-neck finish with Mitt Romney – but some of them said they weren’t surprised he did so well.

“I knew this was going to happen,” Kathy Hughes, a retired teacher from Mt. Pleasant, said. “So many people were saying, ‘why are you supporting him? Santorum can’t win!’ But I knew.”

She added that the phones at Santorum’s headquarters here had been ringing non-stop over the past few days. The phone did buzz a few times into the wee hours of Wednesday morning; the last call, Hughes said, came from a voter in Peoria, Illinois who was trying to get in touch with one of Santorum’s early-state headquarters.

• STORY: Romney edges past Santorum in Iowa photo finish

Joan Peters, a member of the Charleston Tea Party board from Moncks Corner, said she supported Santorum’s decision not to skip New Hampshire and come directly to South Carolina as Michele Bachmann is doing and Rick Perry was going to do before he announced he’d first return to Austin to reassess his campaign.

“He’s probably not going to win because Mitt Romney’s got New Hampshire pretty sewn up, but he’ll do well and then he’ll come down to South Carolina and the money’s going to start coming in,” Peters said. “People now realize what we’ve always realized, which is that he’s a credible candidate and he can win.”

More on NBC Politics: 

By Jo Ling Kent, NBC News

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- In a significant development in the Republican presidential contest, the New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper endorsed former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich as his campaign surges in polls both nationally and locally. Despite his tumultuous political past, Gingrich was cited by the paper to have conservative credentials they believe to be critical to win the GOP nomination.

"A lot of candidates say they're going to improve Washington," wrote publisher Joe McQuaid. "Newt Gingrich has actually done that, and in this race he offers the best shot of doing it again."

The paper called Gingrich's strategy "innovative, forward looking" and his leadership "positive." However, McQuaid was quick to conceded Gingrich is far from the ideal candidate.

Slideshow: Gingrich through the years

"Newt Gingrich is by no means the perfect candidate," McQuaid wrote. "But Republican primary voters too often make the mistake of preferring an unattainable ideal to the best candidate who is actually running ... he has the experience, the leadership qualities and the vision to lead this country in trying times."

Gingrich: 'Enormous boost'
The paper's support is considered the state's most influential media nod ahead of the first-in-the-nation Republican primary and will certainly help Gingrich's prospects here. The Union Leader is the state's largest and only state-wide daily publication. It prides itself on being independent and conservative.

"We are honored to have the endorsement of the Union Leader," Gingrich's New Hampshire state campaign director Andrew Hemingway told NBC News Sunday morning. "This is an enormous boost to our campaign and further proof the the people of N.H. are wanting substance and solutions over soundbites and pandering." Gingrich was not immediately available for comment.

The Union Leader's Gingrich endorsement comes after significant courting by Mitt Romney, who has been campaigning in the state for several years. This is the second time that the Union Leader has chosen not to endorse Romney. In 2008, it notably backed John McCain who eventually went on to win the New Hampshire primary following a major comeback from a near-dead campaign the summer and fall before the primary. The paper's editorial team also took several significant swipes at Romney in the process, undoubtedly hurting his chances in New Hampshire.

Looking back, the Union Leader has only supported two Republican candidates who went on to actually cement the GOP nomination: Reagan in 1980 and McCain in 2008. The Granite State publication endorsed Ronald Reagan in 1976 and 1980, Pete du Pont in 1988, Pat Buchanan in 1992 and 1996, Steve Forbes in 2000 and John McCain 2008.

As for this election cycle, McQuaid recently told the Concord Monitor that "the future of the free world" is at stake. McQuaid said that the paper decided on its endorsement earlier this week and wrote the opinion ahead of Thanksgiving.

"I'm not kidding," McQuaid said of the upcoming 2012 contest. "I think this is a very important election in America."

In the latest New Hampshire polls, Gingrich is tied with Rep. Ron Paul for second place at 14 percent, behind former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney who garnered 41 percent, according to Suffolk University and 7 News. In another state-wide survey by WMUR and University of New Hampshire, Gingrich has 15 percent of support, behind Romney at 45 percent and ahead of Paul at 12 percent.

In the last month, Gingrich has retooled his New Hampshire strategy by building out a virtually non-existent structure, citing new funds as his impetus to expand. He has visited more frequently, brought in Hemingway and rapidly hired New Hampshire-based staff, most recently snagging Rep. Michele Bachmann's former New Hampshire director Jeff Chidester.

His campaign has also started rolling out "Newt Hampshire", a Granite State-focused web platform to attract supporters and get out the vote in the final weeks until the primary.

New Hampshire voters go to the polls on Tuesday, January 10.