[Exim] partial-lsearch wrong

I know it's just a typo, but I cann't see it. Perhaps you folks would be
kind enough to help me.

I am trying to setup a list of domains where any mail to an address in one
of the domains in the file gets routed to a specific machine vs the normal
routing. Any domains not in the file get normal routing. I added what I
thought would do it, but it's not seeming to work right. Here's what I put
in my routers: (btw, Exim 4.14)


forced_route:
# this router is only for domains that won't take emails from a dynamic IP
driver = manualroute
domains = ! +local_domains
route_list = "${lookup{$domain}partial-lsearch{/etc/direct.lst} {$value}} mail.comcast.net byname"
transport = remote_smtp


the list is a simple one root domain per line. To test, I added aol.com to
the list, so the file /etc/direct.lst is:

# names to send directly to comcast.net's MX server, since they won't take
# dynamic IP'd emails
aol.com

but when I do a exim -d+route -bt joe@???, I get the AOL list of MX's,
not mail.comcast.net like I wanted.

What did I do wrong?
here's what I feel the pertinant portions of the debug output are:

--------> forced router <--------
local_part=sue domain=aol.com
checking domains
aol.com in "@"? no (end of list)
aol.com in "! +local_domains"? yes (end of list)
cached lookup data = NULL
calling forced_comcast router
forced_comcast router called for sue@???
domain = aol.com
route_item = ${lookup{$domain}partial-lsearch{/etc/direct.lst}} ${value} mail.comcast.net byname
search_open: lsearch "/etc/direct.lst"
search_find: file="/etc/direct.lst"
key="aol.com" partial=2 affix=*. starflags=0
LRU list:
8/etc/direct.lst
End
internal_search_find: file="/etc/direct.lst"
type=lsearch key="aol.com"
file lookup required for aol.com
in /etc/direct.lst
lookup failed
trying partial match *.aol.com
internal_search_find: file="/etc/direct.lst"
type=lsearch key="*.aol.com"
file lookup required for *.aol.com
in /etc/direct.lst
lookup yielded:
aol.com in ""? no (end of list)
forced_comcast router declined for sue@???


so whats the deal with this line: aol.com in ""? no (end of list)

Any help is appreciated