fbpx

Gingrich Wins South Carolina

Overcoming an 18 point deficit in the polls, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich soundly defeated former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in the South Carolina GOP presidential primary by 12%.

The Speaker ended the night with 40% of the vote compared to Romney’s 28%.

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum earned 17% of the vote.  Texas Congressman Ron Paul got 13% and Herman Cain, who dropped out of the race weeks ago got 1%.

The race for the GOP nomination moves on to Florida which holds its primary on January 31. Recent polls give Romney a 20%+ edge in the Sunshine State.  As we saw tonight, there’s only one poll that counts.

We have a contest.

More from my site

Posted: January 21st, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: 2012 Congressional Races | Tags: , | 16 Comments »

16 Comments on “Gingrich Wins South Carolina”

  1. Gingrich Victory said at 10:55 pm on January 21st, 2012:

    Christie & Kyrillos have great political instinct.

    Sure they are second guessing Romney at this point.

  2. Go, Newt! said at 11:19 pm on January 21st, 2012:

    way to kick the all elites and RINOS’ butts!.. hope he keeps it going, and hope Fla., and all the rest wake up and realize only a total contrast from the current Pres., and not an Obama-lite- someone smart, direct, experienced and fearless like Newt will save this republic- period- it is that serious.

  3. JerryW45 said at 12:46 am on January 22nd, 2012:

    Gee, with Christie thinking ahead to 2016, is he really confident Mittens can win?

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/01/21/christie-sets-ambitious-goals-in-new-jersey-amid-2016-speculation/

    QUOTE:

    “Christie, who turned down appeals to run in 2012, signaled in an interview with Oprah Winfrey last week that he’s got his eye on the next cycle”

    Have you no faith Governor?

  4. Rick Ambrosia said at 6:28 am on January 22nd, 2012:

    I love the way that “Go, Newt” wants to kick the elites butts….I guess irony is lost on this poster since there are not too many non-elitists who have a $500,000 line of credit at Tiffany’s. I really want The Newt to win the whole thing since independent voters will never vote for someone as repulsive as he is. Go Newt!!

  5. restrictive choice? said at 8:40 am on January 22nd, 2012:

    People can smell bullshit. Whether it’s Halfacre or Romney, voters don’t like candidates that flip-flop on core issues like abortion.

  6. Bob English said at 8:54 am on January 22nd, 2012:

    Romney needs to release his income tax records and start to get that issue behind him. He sounded almost incoherent in Thursday nights debate trying to explain himself.

    Its strange how bad news works but once its known for awhile, people seem to factor it into their thought process and than move on. Newt appears to be a good example of that. He has major personal, ethical and political baggage but at least with many South Carolina voters it did not seem to matter.

    I still can not imagine Newt being the R nominee which would be a disaster for the party but with that said, Florida is a must win for Romney as far as trying to maintain the perception that he can get enough delegates to win the nomination (never mind being competitive against Obama.)

    Last thought…SC was only one primary with not very many delegates. It’s the first one Newt has actually won so right now he is the flavor of the week.

  7. Tim Goshta said at 10:17 am on January 22nd, 2012:

    Wonder what Romney New Jersey chairman Joe Kyrillos was thinking?

  8. Response To Rick Ambrosia said at 11:06 am on January 22nd, 2012:

    Ah, Rick…

    One only has to look at the S. C. Exit Polls to illustrate you could quite probably be wrong about Newt NOT attracting independents:

    Most importantly, per the SC Exit Polls, Newt Won:

    1) Late Deciders
    2) Married Woman
    3) Evangelicals
    4) Almost every other segment of the Exit Polling
    5) MOST able to defeat Obama
    6) Areas that Romney SHOULD Have won, moderate areas along the coast that McLame won
    7) Almost ALL of the counties, I think
    8) WHO RAN THE MOST UNFAIR CAMPAIGN – For People Calling Newt Dirty, they should realize that Romney & Paul were tied at 57% of people thinking they were the dirtiest.

    And even the Washington Compost said:

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/campaigns/sc-republican-primary-voters-focused-on-economy-defeating-obama-early-exit-polls-show/2012/01/21/gIQAUr3rGQ_story.html?tid=pm_politics_pop

  9. Response To Rick Ambrosia II said at 11:09 am on January 22nd, 2012:

    Dang It Rick, Ya Got Me So Ticked, I Clicked The Button Too Fast 🙂

    Per The Compost:

    “By a decisive 5 to 4 margin, Gingrich bested Romney among voters looking for someone to defeat President Barack Obama this November, and he led Romney by nearly as much among those who considered the economy the top issue in picking a candidate.”

    As Well, Links To The Exit Polling:

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/elections/2012/south-carolina-primary-jan-21/exit-polls

    http://www.cnn.com/election/2012/primaries/epolls/sc

    Time Will Tell, So Let’s Not Get Into A Rush…

    But The Line You Are Telling About Independents Not Going For Newt May Not Yet Be Written…

    Peace & Love Ya All.

  10. Rick Ambrosia said at 11:15 am on January 22nd, 2012:

    LOL….yeah…all those “independents” in South Carolina….LOL…too funny. Go Newt!

  11. LOL Rick Ambrosia said at 4:49 pm on January 22nd, 2012:

    Time will tell Rick, Time Will Tell.

    There’s no need for a “Rush To Judgement” in this race and if Newt comes out on top, the voters will have decided and I would venture to say that plenty more independents will weigh in with their judgement.

    Meanwhile, if you want to keep your head in the sand and ignore what at least looks very positive for Newt from the SC Exit Polls, fine by all of us.

  12. Forgot To Mention Rick said at 4:53 pm on January 22nd, 2012:

    Independents made up 25% of the vote in South Carolina’s primary vote, just in case you missed that in the Exit Poll info.

    So, your comments about “all those independents” barely holds water.

    Just Sayin’

  13. Go Away said at 6:17 pm on January 22nd, 2012:

    Go home Romney. Go away Romney chairman Kyrillos!

  14. Bob English said at 7:37 am on January 23rd, 2012:

    Regarding Florida, I saw that over 180,000 people had already voted by absentee ballot by the end of last week. If Romney was actually way ahead there (prior to the weekend anyway) the absentees could give him a big boost towards victory in the state.

  15. Poor Rick, said at 12:00 pm on January 23rd, 2012:

    a “Tiffany’s” credit line upsets you?? .. way to make it so easy, with the class-warfare b.s. we are and will be getting, every single moment up til Nov.. what bothers so many of us much more is the ENDless credit line, at OUR expense, ( not personally earned, as Newt’s was) that Barack and Michelle have run up in 3 short years, go ahead and fact check it: more travel and high-living amenities than any other Pres., of either party-even Bill/Hillary, who skipped out with the drapes we bought!..so typical of libs: no discernment of or understanding about that basic difference..their hypocrisy is again predictable, laughable, and boring!..

  16. Freespeaker1976 said at 9:00 pm on January 23rd, 2012:

    Bob,

    Romney has an 11 point edge in the Absentee Ballots posted as of now according to “exist polling.” Not sure how accurate that is.

    But, that is only 14% of the total electorate and only 25% of the absentee ballots requested. With the polls turning in Newt’s favor (RCP Tomorrow, should show about a PLUS 7 for Newt based on updated polls as of Monday afternoon) Newt can overcome that