Former speaker denies one-time juggernaut Romney victory in Palmetto State
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A week ago, the South Carolina Republican primary was Mitt Romney’s to lose.
And on Saturday, he lost it.
Palmetto State voters threw their weight behind Newt Gingrich en masse, giving the former Speaker 40 percent of the vote, a commanding 12 percent margin over Romney.
The Saturday prior, that 12 percent was all he had. A poll conducted by Reuters and Ipsos put Gingrich in fourth place, 25 points behind Romney, who led the pack with the support of 37 percent of respondents.
Driving the swing in voter sentiment, reported many supporters at the candidate’s victory speech Saturday night, were his debate performances on the Monday and Thursday before the election.
“I think the debates were a huge contributing factor,” Jesse Sellers, Gingrich’s Fairfield County coordinator, said of the victory, adding that Gingrich’s travels throughout the state also helped push him over the top.
Supporters spoke of his quick intellect and conviction when fielding questions as reason for their support.
“With Newt, when he speaks, you know he means it,” Brian Lewis, a supporter from Columbia, said. “It’s not wishy washy. When someone asks a question, he’s able to answer it right away, because he believes it.”
But, Gingrich said to a packed room of about 500 at the Columbia Hilton, he’s not the great debater he’s made out to be.
“It’s not that I’m a great debater,” he said. “It’s that I articulate the deepest-felt values of the American people.”
Appropriately, he continued to promise that if he receives the Republican nomination he will challenge President Barack Obama to a series of seven three-hour debates.
“Obama and Newt on stage is going to be awesome. He’ll tear him up,” Mitch Baroody, a 2010 graduate of The Citadel, said. “With Newt, we know we have a fighting chance against Obama.”
Such was the focus of Gingrich’s audience, which exuded the cocksure confidence of an eventual nominee’s base.
Speaking of his competitors’ campaigns, Gingrich affected the conciliatory tone and past tense befitting a candidate coasting toward his party’s convention.
“I watched tonight the fine speeches of the other three candidates on our side, and I was struck by how much they reflected the openness of the American system,” he said. “Rick Santorum showed enormous courage in Iowa … you have Dr. Ron Paul, who on the issue of money and the Federal Reserve has been right for 25 years … and finally, Gov. Romney, with whom I disagree with on many issues, is nonetheless a good example of America. He’s hard working. He’s been very successful.”
But he spared no criticism of Obama.
“To be fair — I don’t want you to be disappointed — I have already conceded that he can use a teleprompter if he wants to,” Gingrich said of his proposed series of debates with the president. “After all, if you had to defend Obamacare, wouldn’t you want to be able to use a teleprompter?”
It’s an indication, as Speaker of the state House of Representatives Bobby Harrell suggested, that Gingrich is gearing up for a fight with the sitting president.
“We picked the nominee. South Carolina picks presidents,” he said. “We have selected a fighter who doesn’t put up with anything from the press or Obama.”
But the immediate challenge before Gingrich is in defeating Romney, who had until Saturday’s primary stood as a political juggernaut on his way to sealing the Republican nomination.
And to that, Gingrich’s supporters offered a taunting dismissal.
“Na, na, na, na, hey, hey, hey,” they sang, waving outstretched arms and signs when the former Massachusetts governor appeared on a screen at the rally. “Goodbye.”