% Reporting: 99
Gingrich: 40.4
Romney: 27.9
Santorum: 17
Paul: 13
Live results pages: SC Election Comm., Politico, Google, Associated Press.
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Videos of speeches at ElectAd.
Fox News confirms that Jeb Bush now plans to “stay neutral” — of coures, he may jump in at convention if things fall apart and if not, isn’t going to risk a Nikki Haley failure
Hmmm …. Gingrich won women by 38-19 percent over Romney, 41 percent support among married women
Off topic: Joe Paterno taken off respirator, near death – UPDATE: Joe Paterno has died.
Newt running Knockout Punch Money Bomb
Santorum say he’s in it for the long run.
Fox News projects Santorum 3rd.
“another winner tonight? Sarah Palin. she wanted the race to go on, she gets her wish”
Ed Rollins on Fox – Republican establishment is going to “go to war” on Newt for next 2-3 weeks.
Fox News just called race for Newt – just after polls close
Scalia: Don’t like super-PAC ads? Turn off the TV
“SC exit polling we’ve seen so far predicts big victory night for Newt”
Here’s some preliminary exit poll info:
Sixty-four percent said the debates were an important factor for them; just 34 percent said they were not…. A majority of voters – 53 percent – said they made up their mind about who to back within the last few days….South Carolina voters overwhelmingly cited the economy as the most important issue, with 61 percent citing it….Forty-five percent say it’s most important that they have a candidate who can defeat Barack Obama in a general election, while 21 percent are most concerned someone with the right experience, 17 percent they have strong character, and 14 percent they are a true conservative. Asked which candidate ran the most unfair campaign, 30 percent pointed to Romney, 26 percent to Gingrich and 14 percent to Paul.
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[…] The South Carolina GOP Primary Results – Draft Hillary New Hampshire Primary Results Today is the South Carolina Republican Primary. The Obama Dimocrats vote on January 28. Let’s talk results. […]
One of the best anti-Mitt videos.
http://nebraskattitude.blogspot.com/2012/01/not-romney-video.html
Is it really possible to call an election 1 min after the polls close?
Sure. The GOP elite called this for Romney before the first vote was cast…
Seriously. Drudge already has the little siren going up top and “It’s Newt” for the headline. Townhall says 0% reporting? Yeah, I think I’ll wait before I celebrate.
Ditto.
Sure it is…. they used to call them before the polls closed on the west coast.
It’s probability sampling of those who have already voted. When people walk out of polling stations they are creating a truly random sampling frame. You only need about 1500 random voters to give honest answers and this can be projected to the entire “population” with a 95% confidence level and a 3% margin of error.
Romney is actually ceding to Newt now but also campaigning for the general at the same time.
So Santorum “won” Iowa but the media called it for Romney. How will they call South Carolina for Romney? Will anyone believe them either way?
So much for inevitable. It’s only exit poll data, but glad to see a possible mentality shift as to who has the better chance to beat Obama. I just cannot see Romney winning in November.
Grats to Newt. Not my first choice (thought he would have made a perfect VP) but 10,000,000 times better than Romney. Well done SC.
lookin good for Newt …
Newt …. 40%
Mitt …. 29%
Paul …. 16%
Santorum .. 13%
other … 2%
My predictions … how much is the pot at? 🙂
oh, I didn’t see there is already an exit poll number up there … anyway … all these numbers are great …
most electable, Romney ads seen as more unfair, late deciders going for Newt … all systems go. Romney still stumbling over clear answers on Bain and taxes.
Romney just can’t get more than 30% give or take a few points. And this is GOP voters! ” Inevitable loser” is closer to the truth.
Wow!!! That was quick. UPDATE: Newt’s on 3 shows tomorrow, with ABC & FNS being the ones he won’t be on:
http://www.letfreedomringblog.com/?p=12233
Do we have to keep seeing the dishonorable Ed Rollins as a pundit? After his snippy feud with Bachmann (as with other past candidates he worked for), who can trust him to tell the time of day?
What campaign would EVER hire Rollins again? When is the last time he managed a winning campaign? 1984?
Hot Air has some early returns….
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/01/21/open-thread-south-carolina/
Just saw Newt at 39%…cbs news
http://www.cbsnews.com/primary-election-results-2012/state.shtml?state=SC
And thats good sign compared to 2008 results fpr McCain at 33% If SC primary is any sort of guage 40+ is a real good sign
I wasn’t listening closely to Romney, but didn’t hear him congratulate Newt. Mostly he acted like he had won by ten instead of lost by ten. Denial? His crowd was joyful … or are they hysterical and “crazy”? 😉
More detachment from Romney … in the debate. When Gingrich explained that government of the 90’s made a condition for business to succeed, Mitt piped up that “no, you’re not going to take credit for MY success”. Yeah Mitt … we get it .. you made a lot of money. Do you even understand that government plays a different role?
I’d like to hear about the collusion between big business and government … the big bailouts for the too big to fails. The Tea Party wants to know.
Maybe some of you will realize that air of superiority that the Romney campaign cloaks itself in. The cake, the lack of interviews on talk radio, not congratulating Newt..all are a pattern. Next will be the all out assault on Newt that Mitt is “helpless” to stop.
Mitt has achieved “air superiority?” Curse that Red Baron!
I hope Santorum stays ahead of Paul. I don’t see how he can keep going if he can’t beat Paul…
I’ll be looking at the dollars-to-votes ratio to see if Mitt broke yet another record. Call it the RCF quotient — “Romney capitalizing futility.”
Congratulations Newt on a well deserved clear victory in SC. Now on to win Florida, and the rest of the Primary States, and the Republican Party Nomination at the RNC Convention, in the footsteps and path of Ronald Reagan.
Newt is winning in every county but 4. What is wrong with those people in Newberry? I understand all those RINOs around Charleston voting for Mitt but Newberry folks are supposed to be smarter than that!
The counties which Romney are winning are the “establishment” areas of the state (Money, RINOs). Old money, checker-pants fuddy duddies.
Shucks, Newberry County is full of rednecks and moonshiners. They should be big Newt fans!
Mitt is now only ahead in two counties. Newberry moved to the Newt column. The initial results were based on only about 200 votes today…
I think the exit polling details showing 45% wanting a candidate that can defeat Obama rather than 14% wanting one who is a true conservative shows how the narrative being touted endlessly is wrong. Wanting a “true conservative” is just not our main issue. We are not out for a perfect candidate, just one that will beat Obama with vigor!
What is Debbie Was Schulz saying about Newt’s win?
I went to the money bomb page to donate to Newt. The page (HTML) is broken in Safari browser in IPad. Sigh. Guess I will have to keep my money.
That’s because everyone knows Safari is the worst browser ever.
If you study results and numbers..here a few to consider when its done. From 2008 SC
Total votes: 445,677. Might be interesting to compare with tonight as an indication of interest
2008 votes for McCain: 147,733 Huckabee 132,990
Fred Thompson 69,681
Mitt Romney 68,177
Might make for interesting analysis later on
Over 350,000 votes have been counted now and only 65% of precincts have reported.
It looks like a lot of people went to the polls today…
Over 500,000 votes now with 88% of precincts reporting…
565,000 votes with 95% of precincts reporting. That is a lot of votes cast today…
A record-high 573,101 voters cast ballots in 2000 and 445,499 cast in 2008. Of course, no all of those may have been alive at the time their votes were cast…
There were only 4.2 million people in South Carolina in 2005.
Yeah…and Newt at 172,000 roughly is way up from McCain in 2008…and a long way to go
Newt absolutely destroyed Mitt in this race. Florida will be in play very quickly. I am stunned at the ass kicking Gingrich put on the field.
Already were seeing the Romney team spin the event. The what “ifs” are out in force. It was an anti media vote thats the reason. Syddenly SC voters arent smart anymore or accurate…they were swayed by the debates to the point of blindness. You know the drill. SC Promary doesnt mean anything anymore according to the pro Romney “machine”
I suspect the denial will pass in time and perhaps theyll understand running against Obama’s socialist themed campaign with a guy that strikes folks as Thurston Howell from Giligan’s Island might not be a smart idea.
If republicans want to win? Theyll need to sell free enterprise / capitalism as the better concept…the better choice compared to Obama’s plan. What we need to consider…as folks in SC have…who is better at selling the better choice to average americans…Thurston Howell Jr or Gingrich? Maybe tonight is a hint for republican leaders.
Gingrich folks who intend to donate need to boost now — Florida will be key.
CBS News is doing live updates.
http://www.cbsnews.com/primary-election-results-2012/state.shtml?state=SC
Congratulations to all the Santorum voters who knocked Ron Paul into 4th place.
ScottinDysconsin has been placed on suicide watch.
Newt’s victory speech was very inspiring. The stark contrast to Obama’s so called great oratory skills was on full display; no prompter, no notes, from the heart and zero stammering (except in one spot recalling names of two justices) with every word ringing true and breaking through the thick smog of political correctness and progressive ideology that is trying to destroy this great country.
We need a leader like this. Watch the full speech and try to imagine Romney, or Paul or Santorum or Obama giving a speech like that.
Interestingly, Gingrich got more independents than Romney, Paul, or Santorum. I was surprised by this fact initially, but then it started to make sense to me after I heard Newt say, “we’re not running a Republican campaign—we’re running an American campaign.” A truly powerful statement, because it transcends party and is something anyone who cares for this country can get behind.
There’s only one other person alive who could give a speech like that, but she’s not running, but her husband endorsed Newt earlier…
Alex Castellanos on CNN totally gets it. The Republican voter wants someone who can put it to Obama. He described Romney’s messaging as a mayonnaise sandwich on a silver platter….no taste at all. That is why Romney got destroyed tonight.
I would have described Romney as a slightly different kind of sandwich…
Let me check with Chris Dodd on that and get back to you.
During his concession Romney took several shots at Newt. During his post-speech Gingrich complemented Romney – and Santorum, and Paul as well. He’s already at work trying to consolidate the Republican Party.
Now the great conservative Mitt Romney has to promote the conservative message to Floridians and do it better than Newt, both in terms of content and style, and do it without a scintilla of charisma. That’s a tall order.
For those who can or will – MONEYBOMB!
Complimented.
*sigh*
Two good tweets from @johnsberman:
Mitt Romney is first candidate in history to lose IA and SC in the same week.
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Winners…Palin, Rick Perry…and ???? Losers? Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley
Wooo Hooo! Yay Newt!
Now Newt must turn from Romney-bashing to OZero-bashing. The more he focuses on OZero’s malevolent destruction of our economy and safety, the more he will squash the squish Romney in the process.
Now see? I told y’all ever since Romney was supposedly 10 points up that Newt would win SC, and he wouldn’t need Perry to drop out to do it. =P
I know my state. =)
I don’t want to throw a wet blanket over this party, but Florida is going to be brutal. Absentee ballots by the thousands already are in. Virtually the entire Florida Republican establishment (that includes the Bush crowd, the Florida executive branch, the cabinet, Tallahassee and the cocktail crowd on the gold coast) is either overtly or behind-the-scenes for Romney. Marco Rubio has IOU ties to Jeb Bush as well as Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (who already has endorsed Romney). Politicos from out of town (both parties) have been crawling in the shadows all week, as has foreign media.
This state may be the most difficult and corrupt, with diverse Republican interests. The outcome may well depend on the regular Bible Belt Republican voter who sees TV ads, and the tea party folks who go to the polls.
Basically Florida will come to the voter vs the elite…Ill put my money on the voters. They already won tonight.
“What Gingrich now needs is for Rick Santorum to drop out of the race so the conservative vote can consolidate”.
Very revealing. From looking at CNN’s exit poll data, Gingrich sweeps all demographics except for:
1) Those making ≥$200k (Romney +15%)
2) Moderates (Romney +5%)
3) Those opposed to the Tea Party (Romney +13%)
4) Non-evangelicals (Romney +5%)
5) Pro-choicers (Romney +5%)
In other words – Liberals, Democrats, Socialists, etc. It’s why the Romney campaign doesn’t want to make harsh statements, vivid contracts, or otherwise piss off the squishy middle; they think in the general election they stand the best chance of peeling off Democrats to vote for Mitt as a protest against Obama. What they fail to realize is that by pursuing that strategy, conservatives will sit on their hands, vote third party, or write-in someone else entirely. They’ve figured out how to win the last war, not taking into account the new political reality.
If Gingrich really, Really, REALLY wants to win the General, he should better take three main things, and pound on them repeatedly, like a Pentecostal’s tambourines:
1. Obama’s cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline and oil drilling in the Gulf or anywhere else, thus denying hundreds of thousands of much-needed jobs, especially for working-class Americans.
2. Obama’s assertion that the American People would rather have unemployment benefits or food stamps than work for a living to support their families. Nothing insults taxpaying adults more than someone telling them it’s better for them not to work, especially because their work has “no value” in the current scheme of things.
3. “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?”
Pocketbook, pocketbook, pocketbook!!!
Gingrich better make the American people focus on their empty wallets, those unpaid or hard-to-pay bills, the high price of gasoline or heating oil for the winter, the high price of groceries – the whole domestic gamut. He should laser on the misery of the unemployed and seeking work and those who have “given up”. And when he lasers in on all that misery, he should make sure they remember what Obama said he would do.
Gingrich should take that 2008 video of that woman in FL who was so enthused about how Obama would pay her gas and her mortgage, and then ask, “Four years later, how’s she doing?”
When he pounds on the misery of the Great Recession and the consequences of Obama’s policies in the current misery, and demands that the American people ponder on these things, those who think about it won’t give a rat’s behind about Callista or Marianne in the end. They will see his faults (which are many! Trust me on this one – I would never marry him!), but then they will absolutely HATE all of Obama’s – which are in such full view every single day. Even his many golf outings will be seen as something totally out of Louis XVI.
The voter will see their empty wallet at the voting booth and vote accordingly.
If Gingrich does the pounding on these three things repeatedly in the General, the Presidency is his. Otherwise, he’s toast.
[…] primaries have only just begun. The most populace state so far has chosen the Restless Candidate, the least has chosen the Comfortable Candidate. The Iowa Caucus is a meaningless sideshow in the […]
1. Gingrich needs to face these. Not that they wont be another bunch of slander, and innuendo, but that if he cannot survive Mitt’s super PACs there is no way he’ll survive the combined onslaught of Obama’s super PACs and the MSM (Obama’s ubersturmgruppensuper PAC if there ever was.)
2. All of which is only another example of why Mitt would be buried in the general. He thinks his PACs can beat Obama’s PACs, conveniently forgetting that it is the candidate who has to beat the PACs.
You have to update your post again. Paterno has in fact passed away.