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If you were a campaign strategist for Newt Gingrich, you could not have wished for a better outcome than what occurred in the recent South Carolina primary. Weeks before the election, Mitt Romney seemed like he had a virtual lock on the GOP nomination, consistently leading Gingrich and others in preliminary polling. In addition to having sizeable advantages in funding and organization, the Romney team also captured the early endorsement of Gov. Nikki Haley. But somehow, in the days before the election, Gingrich vaulted past Romney and actually bested his opponent by 12 percentage points on Primary Day. One might...

When all polls close by 8 p.m. Eastern tonight in Florida, the winner of the state’s Republican primary may not initially be apparent. After all, the winner takes all, which means the candidate who gets the most votes gets all of the delegates. But the state, with 10 different media markets and a cultural mélange that ranges from Alabama South to Cuba North, is by no means homogeneous. Here are five crucial indicators to keep track of as the returns come in: Absentee VotersThe first key factor is, about a third of Florida voters have already cast their ballots, and...

Two new Florida primary polls, the first since Newt Gingrich's deeply, profoundly impressive victory in South Carolina on Saturday, have now been released, and it appears that the bounce everyone thought he would receive has materialized as expected. An Insider Advantage poll has Gingrich leading Mitt Romney 34 percent to 26 percent, while a Rasmussen poll has Gingrich up 41 percent to 32 percent. Meanwhile, PPP has also tweeted out much tighter (preliminary) numbers from its polling efforts in the Sunshine and Meth and Old People State: Gingrich and Romney are separated by just two voters after polling 600 people....

One ballot for the Republican candidate for US Presidential nominee has favoured Newt Gingrich while a recount elsewhere gave Rick Santorum support so where does that put Mitt Romney's campaign as well as the candidate race as a whole? Transcript HEATHER EWART, PRESENTER: Just days ago Mitt Romney looked like he was on track to be the Republican presidential nominee. But his political fortunes have changed with a decisive win by the controversial former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in the South Carolina primary at the weekend. The contest will now drag on for a lot longer than Mitt Romney and...

When Newt Gingrich got humiliated three weeks ago in Iowa, he responded the way any self-respecting political scrapper would after being beaten down and bloodied. He got up and started swinging wildly. Not just at the guy who knocked him out, but at any foe (hello media elite!) who dared come within reach. Contrast that with Mitt Romney, a candidate so scripted and disciplined even his one-liners in TV debates sound poll-tested and focus grouped. “I will show passion and, from time to time, perhaps a little energy — as I feel it in my heart,” Romney said on the...

Courtesy of one friend, an old pro, three perhaps overlooked points in the sea of analysis of South Carolina and beyond: “I notice that everyone’s citing all kinds of reasons for S.C.: Romney overconfident, Perry's endorsement, Romney doesn't connect, Barnes’s argument that Romney needs a ‘big idea.’ Lost in all this it seems is one name: Sarah Palin. First time she has expressed herself in the race and her candidate wins by 12. If she really comes out for Newt, look out. “Second thought: Paul has potential to give Romney lots of trouble in caucus states. “Final point: Some argue...

Of all the qualities people look for in their leaders, here’s one you don’t hear very often: Mean. Filled with integrity? Yes. Visionary? Certainly. Magnanimous? Sure. But mean? Not one that comes up that frequently. This, of course, was the response one voter gave to Post reporters for why he voted for Newt Gingrich in Saturday’s primary in South Carolina, which the former speaker won by 12 points, thereby upending the Republican race. “I think we’ve reached a point where we need someone who’s mean,” an 85-year-old Harold Wade said in Sullivan’s Island, S.C. Others weren’t so candid, but said...

Newt Gingrich on CBS’ “Face the Nation” this morning turned analyst about why top opponent Mitt Romney stumbled in South Carolina. Authenticity is the issue, Gingrich told Bob Schieffer. Gingrich described former Massachusetts Gov. Romney as “a very good salesman, very much wants to sell, but he has a really weak product. And so I think he’s been dancing on eggs trying to find a version of Romney that will work. And I think the more he dances the more people go — you know, give me the real … I have flaws, I have weaknesses, I’ve had a long...

Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina primary, 40 percent to 28 percent, over Mitt Romney. He also won every Congressional district and, in doing so, won all of South Carolina’s 25 delegates. Now the battle heads to Florida, which holds its primary on Jan. 31. Here are five things to look for as the race heads to Florida. 1. Momentum versus organization Newt Gingrich will come into Florida with momentum, gained from winning South Carolina’s primary, which every Republican presidential nominee has won since 1980. But Romney has a head start in Florida. He has hundreds of thousands of absentee...

Newt Gingrich now has that intangible that unfortunately our Republicans have been missing, except for Sarah Palin. It is called swagger. I am talking about the Contract with America creating, welfare reforming, budget balancing, race card killing, CNN bashing, Obama debate challenging swagger. More than confidence, it's pure belief and trust in his own ability to carry out the conservative cause while winning hearts and minds. Public arena winning, back room brawling, media manhandling, Newt is a seasoned, battle tested statesman who has finally found his rhythm. It is very contagious to witness a confident conservative who can articulate our...

Special Guests: S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: As we noted, we are only about 8 hours and 50 minutes away from the polls opening in South Carolina. And there is only a tiny, tiny, tiny gap between the two front-runners, and the other two candidates could pull off a big surprise tomorrow. That's why this race is so gripping. South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley endorsed Governor Romney and has been hitting the campaign trail for him. Right now, in the latest poll, though, Governor Romney is number two. And she joins us. Governor Haley, welcome....

With Rick Santorum’s performance tonight there will likely be pressure from the GOP establishment on the former Senator from Pennsylvania to drop out of the GOP presidential primary race. So far Santorum mirrors the 2008 Huckabee campaign, obviously because of the win over Romney in Iowa, but also the bare-bones structure of his campaign and lack of fundraising ability.

A lot of things have transpired over the last 48 hours to completely change the dynamics of the race for the Republican nomination: 1. Rick Santorum was declared the winner in the Iowa Caucuses showing that Mitt Romney is in fact beatable. 2. Rick Perry has bailed out of the Presidential race, endorsing Newt Gingrich, and saying that he will actively campaign for the Speaker. 3. The most current polls in South Carolina show that Romney's support is starting to erode, while the same polls are showing that Gingrich's is growing daily. Four polls, Clemson/Palmetto, Public Policy Polling, Rasmussen and...

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- With a just-completed Clemson Palmetto (S.C.) poll showing 20 percent of likely voters in today’s Republican presidential primary undecided, many political pundits are convinced that the race could go to either Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney. One of Gingrich’s top supporters in the Palmetto State argued otherwise, stating that those who are undecided are more likely to fall into the camp of the former House speaker than that of the former Massachusetts governor. (VIDEO AT LINK) “These [undecided] voters are conservative, and Mitt Romney has always had the problem of proving he is genuinely conservative,” Mike Campbell,...

CLEMSON, S.C. — With polls opening in less than 24 hours for the important South Carolina presidential primary election, the final Palmetto Poll shows Newt Gingrich leading over Mitt Romney in a gritty battle fraught with personal attacks and breaking news about the candidates’ personal lives. That’s the finding of the third Clemson University 2012 Palmetto Poll, a sample of 429 South Carolina GOP voters who indicated they plan to vote Saturday. The telephone poll was initiated Jan. 13 and recalibrated Jan. 18-19 to measure changing dynamics. Twenty percent of the likely voters remain undecided. “We expect a reaction by...

I mean, really. How dare you peasants tell the government what to do? How dare you tell them to stay out of your lives? Santorum 2012! (VIDEO AT LINK) "One of the criticisms I make is to what I refer to as more of a Libertarianish right. They have this idea that people should be left alone, be able to do whatever they want to do, government should keep our taxes down and keep our regulations low, that we shouldn’t get involved in the bedroom, we shouldn’t get involved in cultural issues. That is not how traditional conservatives view the...

Sarah Palin understands that only one candidate has the opportunity to stop Mitt Romney's momentum and give the Republican party a nominee who is truly conservative. The unusual voting process this year has allowed Mitt Romney to win Iowa and New Hampshire even without the support of a majority of Republicans. The choice is clear: if conservatives fail to unite behind a single principled candidate in South Carolina, they will be stuck with a Massachusetts moderate opposing Barack Obama. Governor Palin understands that if the conservative vote remains split between non-Romney candidates, then the only beneficiary is Mitt Romney. Mitt...

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- On June 3, 2010, a phone rang at the campaign headquarters of Iowa gubernatorial candidate Terry Branstad. Leo Hough, a receptionist, picked up and was greeted by a familiar voice. It was Sarah Palin, calling to let the campaign know that she was about to endorse Branstad on Facebook and Twitter. There had been no previous discussions between the former Alaska governor and the candidate, who was as pleasantly surprised as everyone else when told the news. That episode is typical of how Palin has made endorsements: suddenly, independently and without fanfare. After leaving an indelible mark...

You’ve got to admire Sarah Palin’s cunning — even if your eardrums can’t take her squeal. If Newt Gingrich wins Saturday in South Carolina, she can claim total credit. She just endorsed him — sort of. If he even gets close — and he’s closer to Mitt Romney in two new polls — she can point to her last-minute vote of confidence. “If I had to vote in South Carolina,” she told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Tuesday, “in order to keep things going, I would vote for Newt.” If things don’t go well, hey, she’s got lots of wiggle...

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Have the tea partiers found their man to challenge President Obama? The leader of South Carolina’s chapter of the Tea Party Patriots says they have — and it’s Newt Gingrich. In an interview on Wednesday with The Daily Caller, Joe Dugan, who is also the chairman of the local Myrtle Beach Tea Party, said he sees increasing signs that conservative activists in the Palmetto State are beginning to coalesce around the former Speaker of the House. “My sense is there is a growing coalition behind Newt Gingrich,” said Dugan, who organized a state tea party convention last...

In a recent article published by The Daily Beast, its Washington bureau chief, Howard Kurtz, reasoned that if “moderate” Mitt Romney wins the Republican nomination for President, he’ll need to choose a running mate with the conservative bona fides to balance the ticket. While the notion that Mitt Romney is "on the verge of sewing up the Republican nomination" is still just a neo-con fantasy (especially in light of Ron Paul’s surging poll numbers and his respectable showing in Iowa and New Hampshire), pundits and soi disant opinion makers have suggested that the former Governor of Massachusetts choose a VP...

Mitt Romney waged a new onslaught against Newt Gingrich on Wednesday amid signs that the former House speaker was gaining traction in his drive to emerge as the sole viable alternative for the Republican presidential nomination. In a rare departure from his usual practice of ignoring GOP rivals and engaging President Obama instead, Romney ridiculed Gingrich for taking credit for millions of jobs created when he served in Congress. "Congressmen taking responsibility or taking credit for helping create jobs is like [former Vice President] Al Gore taking credit for the Internet," Romney told supporters at Wofford College in Spartanburg, S.C....

Sarah Palin isn’t running for President, but she may be trying to influence how people vote. According to ABC News, Palin said that if she lived in South Carolina, she would vote for Newt Gingrich. “Just one week after her husband Todd Palin “went rogue” and endorsed Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said tonight she would vote for Gingrich “if I were a South Carolinian” — the closest she has come to an endorsement in this race. Palin said tonight on “Sean Hannity” that she wants to see the race continue because “iron sharpens...

Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich​’s outstanding debate performance on Monday and key endorsements could set the stage for a strong showing by Gingrich in Saturday’s South Carolina primary, which would position him for a possible win in the Florida primary on Jan. 31 and a chance at the Republican nomination for President this summer. That’s what the two former Republican U.S. Representatives who are chairing Gingrich’s campaign in those two key states told HUMAN EVENTS yesterday. Following what even Gingrich’s enemies say was a virtuoso performance in the debate at Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Monday evening, former Reps. John Napier (S.C.) and...

Almost two-thirds of adult Facebook users in South Carolina say they aren't fans of the tea party, according to a Facebook poll conducted today with POLITICO. Sixty-two percent of those surveyed said they are "not at all supportive" of the tea party, compared with 20 percent who were "somewhat supportive" and 18 percent who were "very supportive." Of those surveyed, women were slightly less supportive of the tea party. Just 35 percent were either "somewhat" or "very" supportive of the movement, compared with 42 percent among men. The results only represent the sentiment of South Carolina users on Facebook, not...

Sarah Palin's not quite endorsing Newt Gingrich for president, but if she were a South Carolina voter, he's the one she'd cast her ballot for this weekend. The idea, Palin explained on Fox News, would be to keep the primary season going. Via Juana Summers, here's the case Palin made: "I can tell you what I would do if I were a South Carolinian…If I were a South Carolinian though, and each one of these primaries and caucuses are different, Sean, I want to see this thing continue because iron sharpens iron. Steel sharpens steel. These guys are getting better...

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) on Tuesday went after Newt Gingrich’s labeling of the Barack Obama as the “food stamp president,” charging the former speaker “denigrates” Americans trying to make ends meet during difficult economic times. “To say those kinds of things about the President of the United States, I think, not only tries to lower the office itself, but also denigrates those people who find themselves in need of food stamps,” the South Carolina Democrat said on Fox News, the morning after a GOP debate was held in his home state. Pressed on why the label was denigrating if Gingrich...

I just recieved a personal message from State Senator Kevin Bryant of South Carolina who has confirmed that he will indeed be supporting Congressman Ron Paul for President. Quite honestly, I wrote to the Senator asking him to reconsider his support for Paul. He sent me the following gracious email: "Great to hear from you Bill, I have chosen to support Dr. Paul as I believe his message energizes our base. Interestingly, even though he's the oldest candidate, the young voters seem to be attracted to him. Thanks for your input." I responded back that I sincerely hopes that he...

If former House Speaker Newt Gingrich does the impossible and somehow defeats Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination, analysts will look back and say the upset was sparked Monday night at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. The knowledgeable, rhetorically gifted Newt Gingrich conservatives love showed up at the Fox News/Wall Street Journal debate and shook the house. Instead of shining by attacking Romney, he thrived by battling his old antagonists: the “elite” media and Texas Rep. Ron Paul. Asked by debate co-moderator Juan Williams whether he could understand why his comments that “black Americans should demand jobs not food stamps”...

I have been hounded in media interviews to give them the scoop on which Republican presidential candidate I ‘m going to endorse. When I respond that it will be “unconventional,” they go nuts because they cannot conceive of what that means. That’s not the way they think. So they try to guess what it means based on conventional political practice. You will be endorsing yourself getting back into the presidential race, they guess. Nope. You will be endorsing someone that’s not in the race, they suggest. Nope. You will be endorsing two of the remaining candidates instead of one. No...

Big government conservatives will never truly overhaul Washington because they need the status quo in place to accomplish their objectives. They don’t want to rebuild the machine; they simply want to change the people pulling the levers. But that is not what the American people want. There is such deep and widespread discontent that nothing short of a complete overhaul will satisfy their justifiable demands. The American people expect changes equal to their concern, which is the highest it’s been in at least a generation, and I am the only candidate with a vision that is as strong and sweeping...

FOX's Neil Cavuto interviews Club for Growth's Andy Roth who rates the GOP presidential candidates economic plans.

Three new polls show former House Speaker Newt Gingrich gaining on Mitt Romney in South Carolina and emerging as the clear conservative choice of voters who are not backing the former Massachusetts governor for the Republican presidential nomination. An Insider Advantage/Majority Opinion Research survey completed on Thursday shows that Gingrich is actually in a statistical tie with Romney in South Carolina, with 21.3 percent of the vote to Romney’s 23.1. Gingrich leads Romney in several demographic groups, including voters 18 to 29 years old, black voters, male voters, and Independents. Ron Paul and Rick Santorum each received 13 percent of...

Call it the case of the rising Texan and plunging Pennsylvanian. Here’s how GOP presidential hopefuls fared in a second round of South Carolina polls released Friday. (The fine print: Two sets of polls from Rasmussen Reports, Public Policy Polling and American Research Group have been released in the past week -- before and after the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday): Winner: Ron Paul Who cares if the Texas congressman has made one announced campaign visit in South Carolina since finishing second in the New Hampshire primary. He’s got the momentum, gaining 22 percentage points combined in the three polls...

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint are two powerful conservative voices in Republican politics, but they seem to be coming at the race for the Republican presidential nomination from totally different angles. Jim DeMint took to the airwaves on The Laura Ingraham Show to warn former House Speaker Newt Gingrich -- and all of the other presidential candidates -- to tone down their campaign rhetoric in the Palmetto State. “I would encourage all of the candidates, ‘let’s just be as positive as we can.’ I know they’re frustrated if people run negative ads,” DeMint said....

The first female and minority governor of South Carolina, swept into office by a wave of Republican energy in a mid-term election, was supposed to be the top prize. Gov. Nikki Haley's endorsement was coveted by numerous presidential candidates. She appeared at events with Rep. Michele Bachmann and Gov. Rick Perry. She welcomed Bachmann, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Gov. Mitt Romney's wife to spend the night in the governor's mansion. In the end, after GOP candidates spent months campaigning on her pet issues, Haley returned the endorsement favor in December to Romney, who backed her early in...

We have FINALLY gotten into 2012 and are right at the beginning of the primary season with the Iowa Caucuses behind us, the New Hampshire primary yielded little surprises and the South Carolina Primary lurks in the shadows of the very near future. The field of candidates have predictably dwindled and will continue skinnying down until we are left with our nominee to run against Obama. Tim Pawlenty was the first casualty of Iowa after the Ames Straw Poll, followed by Herman Cain who withdrew amidst false charges of sexual misconduct, Gary Johnson left the Republican race to tilt at...

Via The Hill: Restore Our Future, a super PAC backing Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, will run full-page ads attacking Newt Gingrich in the Manchester Union Leader and The State in Columbia, South Carolina, the most prominent newspapers in the next two states to vote…. The decision to attack Gingrich is a curious one as Rick Santorum has emerged as Romney’s top rival for the GOP nomination after he virtually tied Romney in Iowa’s caucuses on Jan. 3. Post-voting analysis shows much of Gingrich’s support in that state ended up going to Santorum. Maybe I will be proven wrong about Santorum’s...

The primary’s on Saturday the 21st. He’s promising to endorse on Thursday the 19th at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, which happens to be hosting a presidential debate that same day. He’s timing it for maximum impact, in other words, right down to his choice of which primary to target: As a Georgia native, he might have a bit more sway over voters in SC than he would have had over Iowans, assuming he has any sway left over anyone. Question: Who would value his endorsement the most? Perry’s desperate for positive buzz of any kind but Cain’s already ruled...

Clemson University’s Palmetto Poll Executive Summary December 2011 With only one month to go before the important South Carolina presidential primary, a poll of likely voters in the Palmetto State shows Newt Gingrich surging, Romney on a popularity plateau, and the rest of the field of GOP presidential contenders stagnant or falling behind. The second Palmetto Poll finds Gingrich with more than three times the support he had just one month ago, up from 11% to 38%, while Romney remains at 21%, virtually the same (22%) number he had last month. With the exception of Ron Paul, who has risen...

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Mitt Romney is mocking Newt Gingrich's long record in Washington and says conservative tea party voters eventually will reject the former House speaker who's Romney chief presidential rival. Romney tells reporters in South Carolina that he thinks the state's tea party voters will turn on Gingrich because of his work for the mortgage company Freddie Mac and his consulting time in Washington....

Fresh TIME/CNN first-in-the-nation polls show Gingrich dominating Iowa, South Carolina and Florida — and within striking distance in New Hampshire. Iowa: Gingrich 33 — Romney 20 New Hampshire: Romney 35 — Gingrich 26 South Carolina: Gingrich 43 — Romney 20 Florida: Gingrich 48 — Romney 25 See the full results, including how the other candidates stack up, here. Halperin's Take-Static analysis: Gingrich will be the Republican nominee....

Sen. Jim DeMint today endorsed Nebraska Treasurer Don Stenberg’s bid for Senate, throwing his support behind the GOP primary’s underdog to challenge Sen. Ben Nelson (D) next year. “Don Stenberg is a lifelong conservative with the principles, integrity, and courage needed to stand up to the big spenders in both political parties in Washington,” the South Carolina Republican wrote in a email to his Senate Conservatives Fund members. Polling shows Nelson is one of the most vulnerable Democrats up for re-election this cycle if he decides to run for a third term. He’ll decide by the end of the year...

[Jonathan] Martin [of Politico] writes: "Perry's comment (about ...Ben Bernanke's "treasonous" behavior) is exactly the sort of misstep that will worry the many GOP donors on the sideline right now who chiefly want to beat President Obama. The quote reinforces their central fear about Perry — that he has a cowboy problem — and could prompt them to remain uncommitted." This is accurate. It's also irrelevant. It's irrelevant because the "GOP donors on the sideline right now" don't matter. They think they matter, but they don't. The fact is that Rick Perry can raise $15-20 million out of Texas for...

State Rep. Thad Viers announced his candidacy Thursday for the new 7th district seat in South Carolina. Viers, a Republican serving his fifth term in the South Carolina House, told Roll Call that he’s been considering a run for a long time, but what “sealed the deal” for him was a new district being created in the northeastern part of the state and debate over the debt ceiling — what he called “the debt fiasco compromise in Washington.” The new district, allotted to the state by reapportionment, is in the Pee Dee region of the state, anchored in Republican Horry...

Sanford is being asked the hard questions by Sean Hannity now on Fox. I don't think he's made any progress in his emotional maturity. He wants to talk about economics. Is he looking for a job or testing the waters for another run for office?

A new poll from American Research Group released Monday shows that former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts is leading the Republican presidential race in South Carolina, traditionally the first state in the South to hold a presidential primary. The South Carolina Republican primary -- set up with the help of legendary Republican operative the late Lee Atwater, a native of the Palmetto State -- has proven decisive in recent years, helping to erect a firewall in the region for Atwater’s candidate George H.W. Bush in 1988 and propelling front-runners Bob Dole over Pat Buchanan in 1996 and George W. Bush...

Youtube - teambachmann's channel; National Town Hall Streamed live on Jun 29, 2011

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Republicans in this first-in-the-South primary state aren't too enthusiastic about the crop of GOP presidential candidates. They are fired up about defeating President Barack Obama and confident a Republican can. "I'm telling everyone that worries about the field: Elmer Fudd can win this election," says Ashby Rhame, a Republican from Sumter County. In this reliably conservative state, if not across the country, the GOP exudes optimism about making Obama a one-term president, no matter the Republican nominee....

The 2012 ad wars have officially begun. In what appears to be the first major media buy of the 2012 presidential campaign, an independent group supporting President Obama launched television ads in South Carolina on Friday attacking potential GOP candidate Mitt Romney over health care. Priorities USA Action, a so-called “super PAC” co-founded by former White House aides Bill Burton and Sean Sweeney, is running the ad to coincide with a Romney visit to the crucial GOP primary state. The ad attempts to tie Romney to a House Republican proposal to replace Medicare with a voucher system, a theme that...