Romney got owned by Gingrich

When Associated Press finally join the other news organisations a whole half hour after the pools close you know the exit polls had to be clear. CBS and Fox had taken all of 4 minutes, ABC and CNN eight.

As I write this with 85% of the results reported the result in South Carolina is (final result in red):

• Newt Gingrich 40.4% 40.4%
• Mitt Romney 27.1% 27.8%
• Rick Santorum 17.4% 17.0%
• Ron Paul 13.4% 13.0%

That is as much of an owning of a state result as Romney managed in New Hampshire. In fact it is more so. But then like New Hampshire the winner came from a neighbouring state.

So where does that leave the Republican party nomination race as they head to Florida.

First up Gingrich has the momentum, but as was pointed out in the coverage I heard he is not on every state's ballot at the moment. He says that if he is nominated he will challenge Obama to seven three hour dabates. He is talking like a winner after tonight, he is talking about taking on Obama not his opponents. 

Romney took a bit of a pasting here. Before his supporters knew the cameras were live you saw the frowns. He outspent Gingrich with $2.4m of ad buy to $612,000. So although he is getting his message out there one thing is lacking. The exit polls revealed that he had lost his lead in who do see most likely to beat Obama in November. That honour now goes to Gingrich, possibly because of the way he ended up swinging from the start of the debate on Thursday, when a week ago that was Romney. 

Romney also came out swinging at Gingrich saying that as he'd never run a state or a business. The counter punch came when Newt said he was the only speaker in the supporters' lifetimes that had supervised four consecutive balanced budgets. The fight is on.

Rick Santorum has done well enough to stay in the race. His speech was one that would allow him to be an asset to whomever happens to win this race. Indeed he opened in praise of his colleague in the House of Representatives. As I said earlier if he didn't put up a good position here he may as well pack up and head home. As it is he has done enough to keep on with the fight. He will be waiting to see if Romney and Gingrich manage to destroy each other in the crossfire they are aiming at each other, he may well be the man to pick up the pieces and be the compromise candidate if things get so nasty as to make both of them a political liability.

As for Ron Paul, this was Christian country and his liberal message may not have gone done well with some of these southerners. But he carried on and on and on in his speech with his economic vision. However, he is the only man left in the race who has not yet won a statewide poll.  He said he will carry on, there are some caucusing states coming up where he has done well. He will still have picked up delegates here and as he said in his speech, before giggling his giggle, winning delegates is the name of the game. Wow! How insightful.  

So all four are left in, nobody was knocked out yet and this race is far from over and may well get even nastier in the weeks ahead. If it does it could still stir things up even more. But tonight Romney was owned by Gingrich. At point I tweeted that the Romney gap was closing....but only between him and Santorum as Gingrich edged further ahead as the results mounted up.

Polling day in South Carolina

It's been a week that one candidate's ex-wife claimed he wanted an open marriage. Another seemed to either lack or have the business acumen that made him successful as he stumbled over his tax returns. One was no longer strong enough to carry on and you didn't need to go to church to know that. One was actually ignored by the moderator in a debate (though the crowd booed that oversight). The one who speaks Chinese bowed to the inevitable and stopped his campaign. The other may have been declared winner in Iowa and looked deeper into the issue of fundamentalist Islam in a more thoughtful way that most GOP candidates before him.

In South Carolina voting is under way is what is heating up to be a GOP race. There are only four men left Mitt Romney who won in Iowa and New Hampshire, Rick Santorum who came second first in Iowa but performed poorly in New Hampshire, Ron Paul has shown strongly in both and Newt Gingrich who has come close to winning some counties but hasn't done so...yet.

Since 1980 the winner of the GOP South Carolina Primary has gone on to be the Republican nominee for President. So what does today hold for them all?

Mitt Romney picked up the endorsement of Jon Hunstman when he stepped aside on the 15th. He is still seen as the one to beat by the others and is running neck and neck with one of his rivals this time Gingrich. However, in the debate on Thursday night there were yet again concerns that the successful business man is using off shore banking to keep his taxes below that of the average working American. While this may be shrewd business practise in the world of politics it is seen as tax evasion especially to the Reagan Democrats that he seems keen to bring back from the Obama fold.

Newt Gingrich  has ridden the wave of his marital issues. Of course his marital issues are not so much the problem as at the time his second wife said he was suggesting an open marriage he was calling for a special prosecutor into the affairs of the man at the White House, Bill Clinton. So it smacks of hypocrisy. But he is doing just what he needs to do to keep his hope alive, a win or strong second here will keep him in the race. He picked up the backing of Rick Perry when he dropped out and Sarah Palin, though he did promise her a position once she came out in support, which may smack against the constitution and a promise of appointment by candidate.

Ron Paul will no doubt by the end of today be saying that this year the trend since 1980 is there to be broken. Not least because there is proportionality in the delegates this time rather than winner takes all. In all possibility even if Gingrich wins here today he would still be second in the number of delegates. He's ticking along with his libertarian take on what is needed to beat Obama and his $1 Trillion cuts in Washington spending by slashing 5 Departments he sees as superfluous is gathering momentum with a certain electorate.

Rick Santorum  may well be wishing that the eight Iowa districts that forgot to call in their results in the caucus had done so before New Hampshire. Then he would have been taking on New England's son having already beaten him once. As it is he trailed in behind the other 3, if only just behind Gingrich. He hasn't gone for the full out blood path that Romney and Gingrich seem to be playing on each other and Ron Paul. maybe it is true that the nice guy can't win, especially in the GOP. However, the fact that he is still here after some of the former front runners Bachmann and Perry have dropped out shows there must be some fight in him somewhere. If he stays in for the next stops on the itinerary he will have to bring it to the table and get back to the top of the lists to stay in this race. Of course not everywhere can be won by shaking every hand like Iowa and he is lacking the big financial backers to allow him to compete on a  even footing.

So after today at least three if not all four will probably still be feeling they have a chance to win this thing, as we head off to the sunshine state of Florida, where there is a scheduled debate on Monday night.

Strong redrafted by Rick Perry

I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a Christian, but you don’t need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there’s something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our former speaker can’t celebrate an open marriage with his mistress in Washington as his wife at home. As President, I'm sure that Gingrich's war on Clinton will not stop him having sex with that woman, or that woman, or that woman. And I'll fight against liberal attacks on his sexual history of cheating on his wives. Faith made America strong. It can make The current Mrs Gingrich strong again. I’m Rick Perry and I approve Newt Gingrich.

The original ad is below.



Yeah believe it or not on the day that the second wife of Newt Gingrich revealed he wanted an open marriage when he confessed to his six-year affair, has suspended his campaign. This man of faith who doesn't think gays can enter monogamous marriage, or serve openly in the US Military, is backing the hypocrite who ordered the equiry into the Lewinski affair before saying goodnight to his wife while his mistress was beside him in his bed.

Now that is a strong choice, NOT!


Update Having just read that Newt Gingrich is offering senior appointments to GOP endorsers. Oops that is another contravention of the US Constitution after saying he will over rule the Supreme Court earlier. So Perry is endorsing a felon, see below:

TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 29 > § 599§ 599. Promise of appointment by candidate

Whoever, being a candidate, directly or indirectly promises or pledges the appointment, or the use of his influence or support for the appointment of any person to any public or private position or employment, for the purpose of procuring support in his candidacy shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if the violation was willful, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.

Not all the world speaks English (American) #GOP

Considering that Nick Clegg can speak Dutch, Spanish, German and French as well as English of course which while this polyglotism is astounding is not shunned by British voters the same is not the case it would seem in America.

First of all there was shocking adverts by a group supporing Ron Paul about the fact that former US Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman might be able to communicate in Mandarin.



Now the fact that an American who spent 2 years in French in his youth can speak, shock horror, French has been attacked in this add from Newt Gingrich.



It is bad enough that most Brits think they should be able by with just English. I've spoken enough conversational Spanish, German and Russian to get by with greeting etc. but to use being able to speak to some of the 94% of the world who don't speak English as their first language, or some of the 75-90% who speak it as a second language is an atrocious sign of how little America and especially Newt Gingrich cares for foreign affairs.

The attacks on Chinese speakers of which 2 million existed in the 2000 US Census and French 1.6m shows that Gingrich and Paul are even not aware of the continuing diversity of the constituency that they wish to represent.

Dixville Notch call it a tie

Picture from CBS

The first vote in the New Hapmshire Primary is in. The small villgae of Dixville Notch right up against the Canadian border traditionally votes at midnight. It's 9 voters have made it a tie in the Republican nomination between Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman with 2 votes each. Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich picked up a vote each. The other three votes went to President Obama.

The village has 2 registered Democrats and 3 registered Republics with 4 who do not declare a party.

The Rogue in not for Running

So she may have said she was Going Rogue in her book, seen by many as laying out her manifesto to be the Republican Presidential Nominee for 2012. She has been seen by many for the last three years as the one that everyone has to beat having been on  the ticket last time. But this evening in a press release from Alaska the former Governor Sarah Palin has announced that she will not be seeking the nomination for the Republican Party in 2012. Her statement reads:

After much prayer and serious consideration, I have decided that I will not be seeking the 2012 GOP nomination for President of the United States. As always, my family comes first and obviously Todd and I put great consideration into family life before making this decision. When we serve, we devote ourselves to God, family and country. My decision maintains this order.
My decision is based upon a review of what common sense Conservatives and Independents have accomplished, especially over the last year. I believe that at this time I can be more effective in a decisive role to help elect other true public servants to office – from the nation’s governors to Congressional seats and the Presidency. We need to continue to actively and aggressively help those who will stop the “fundamental transformation” of our nation and instead seek the restoration of our greatness, our goodness and our constitutional republic based on the rule of law.
From the bottom of my heart I thank those who have supported me and defended my record throughout the years, and encouraged me to run for President. Know that by working together we can bring this country back – and as I’ve always said, one doesn’t need a title to help do it.

I will continue driving the discussion for freedom and free markets, including in the race for President where our candidates must embrace immediate action toward energy independence through domestic resource developments of conventional energy sources, along with renewables. We must reduce tax burdens and onerous regulations that kill American industry, and our candidates must always push to minimize government to strengthen the economy and allow the private sector to create jobs.

Those will be our priorities so Americans can be confident that a smaller, smarter government that is truly of the people, by the people, and for the people can better serve this most exceptional nation.

In the coming weeks I will help coordinate strategies to assist in replacing the President, re-taking the Senate, and maintaining the House.
Thank you again for all your support. Let’s unite to restore this country!

God bless America.
– Sarah Palin

It means that those still in the race are Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachman, Texas Governor Rick Perry, previous runner and Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, former speaker of the House of Representative Newt Gingrich, former Governor of Utah and Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman Jr. and Radio Host Herman Cain.