Posted on 01/21/2012 6:07:55 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV)-- Mitt Romney took the stage in front of hundreds of supporters and thanked them for their help in taking second place in South Carolina.
"Thank you so very much," he said to the crowd. "You should hear it when we win!"
He went on to thank South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and his campaign staff and told the people of South Carolina that he owed them "so much."
But in the end, it was another candidate who walked away with the primary win.
"I want to congratulate speaker Gingrich for a hard fought race," said Romney. "Tomorrow we move on to Florida."
Romney then focused on Obama and how he feels we should fix the country saying that the stakes have never been higher and that this election is a "battle for the soul of America."
"I want to make federal government simpler, smaller, smarter and I will do it."
He promised to repeal Obamacare before going on to point out the shortcomings of his opponents.
"Our party can't be lead to victory by someone who has also never run a business."
Even though he's congratulated Gingrich for a win in South Carolina, Romney continues to look forward to the other primaries.
"I will compete in every state. We are going to win this nomination and defeat President Obama in November," he said. "The American people will be looking for a real choice in this campaign and I will provide it."
With the crowd chanting his name, Mitt Romney left the stage shaking hands and saying "Thank you."
A brokered convention or a draft don’t depend on primary ballots.
The won in the White House has so much more baggage we'll have to start moving him in November just to have him out by mid January 2013
Rafe ?
We can hope and pray for that!
Now it's on to Florida, and it's not a slam dunk for Gingrich, his momentum notwithstanding. Florida's filled with snow birds and retired country club types, which Romney would have a natural appeal to. I don't think that Florida will decide anything, though Santorum may feel compelled to drop out if he polls poorly there.
I hope you continue to be “wrong” in that direction! :)
yeah, Great Welcome to Newt’s ville
CNN, hasn’t removed the Iowa delegates Santorum won.
No surprise there!
CNN, hasn’t removed the Iowa delegates Santorum won from Romney.
No surprise there!
I was reading that some of the snow birds from NY voted in both FL and NY.
Santorum is still very competitive, btw.
If he does, I might give to his campaign - he'd take far more votes from Æthelblack the Unready than from Gingrich.
He runs third party, Obama wins - and his son's political career is over.
...but lose the election - think McCain. Gingrich has no chance. According to one poll, Obama beats Gingrich in Texas by 2 points. If that’s the case, Obama is very happy tonight. “
*rolleyes*
Ok, dude. Whatever.
If it helps the Romney-bots feel better to scour for polls in January to predict whom will win in Nov.
At one point in 2008, McCain lead Obama in New York in the summer.
Doubt it. Polls are meant to mislead, this far out. Newt will clobber Obama, remember that Obama is a TARGET RICH ENVIRONMENT. Every week Newt can press a new Obama-failure theme.
See, Newt doesn't have to win the election. He just has to make Obama lose.
Hell, that's tagline material, right there.
Paul mentioned running as a third party in the last debate. Its already been shown Paul has connections to Soros. The fact that it would hurt the country certainly wouldnt stop him.
“I find it ironic that the media’s attempt to destroy Newt’s candidacy assured his victory.”
The MSM is the modern equivalent to such trash as “Tokyo Rose” from WW2. They are the enemy.
Britt Hume was melting down last night. I lost all respect I had for him.
Newt Gingrich deserves credit for a surprising win. This was no eked-out bare-margin victory but rather a blowout.
We in the conservative movement who are not fans of Gingrich need to congratulate him. He won, fair and square, and we need to deal with it. He's not my choice, but he's not the worst guy out there, either, and he's now proved he has at least a shot at defeating Romney.
I find it especially interesting that some of the most religiously conservative parts of South Carolina decided to back Gingrich rather than Santorum despite Gingrich's admitted past history and despite the new allegations against him.
Something caused that. I'm not yet sure what and my “on the ground” information in South Carolina isn't solid enough to have a good explanation.
Maybe Gingrich, despite being a Northerner, learned enough about the South during his time in the Atlanta suburbs to realize that the South is not only the Bible Belt but also the Sunday NASCAR races and “Dukes of Hazzard” mentality — and sometimes those disparate personalities are present in the same person. Southern “fighting fundie” fundamentalism is not far from the rebellious spirit of bootlegging hillbillies portrayed by the Dukes of Hazzard. Callista Gingrich obviously isn't Daisy Duke or a NASCAR trophy girl, but equally obviously, Gingrich was able to win Carolina votes somewhere and I don't have a good explanation of how or why, other than perhaps a perception that he was the only candidate feisty and aggressive enough to defeat Mitt Romney.
If that's the answer, Carolinians may just be right. Gingrich is feisty and I do admire that in him.
It's no secret that I have major problems with Newt Gingrich's admitted infidelity and now the accusations of asking for an open marriage. This is not new. I had major concerns about Herman Cain after the allegations started about him, I objected to Rudy Giuliani's zipper problems, and I objected to Bill Clinton's zipper problems. I have to be consistent and I can't have a double standard because I like many of Gingrich's political views while despising the politics of Clinton.
I'm not sure yet why evangelical voters pulled the lever for Gingrich, but it clearly happened, and by proving he can win South Carolina in the midst of a flurry of horrible accusations, Gingrich has considerably strengthened his hand in the rest of the Deep South.
That is not irrelevant in the Republican Party, and even if Romney wins Florida, a winner-take-all state, what happened in South Carolina will make it possible for Gingrich to say to Republican evangelicals that if he can win South Carolina he should be able to win other socially conservative states.
He may well be right. If he can stop Mitt Romney, that's not a bad thing. One huge positive of Gingrich is that unlike McCain, Gingrich really does seem to “get it” about the need to include Christian conservatives in a winning coalition. If we can't have the head of the table, at least with Gingrich we'll get a place at the table.
I don't want to have to make a choice between Romney or Obama. I can vote for Gingrich this fall if I have to do so. Maybe Gingrich is the way to prevent an Obama-Romney choice.
I don’t think Romney will be back, at least not as a real contender if he is roundly trounced nationally as he has been in South Carolina. He could morph into a fringe candidate like Paul but I don’t think he will.
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