USA: Gingrich trounces Romney in South Carolina Republican Primary

Record ID: 346526

  • Title: USA: Gingrich trounces Romney in South Carolina Republican Primary
  • Date: 23rd January 2012
  • Summary: COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 21, 2012) (REUTERS) REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE NEWT GINGRICH WALKING TO PODIUM CUTAWAY PHOTOGRAPHERS CUTAWAY CROWD TAKING PHOTOGRAPHS WIDESHOT OF GINGRICH AT PODIUM WITH CROWD (SOUNDBITE) (English) REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE NEWT GINGRICH, SAYING: "We want to run not a Republican campaign, we want to run
  • Embargoed: 7th February 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa, Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Domestic Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA7UVIFSRB23IH8OXR6KTUYA3GH
  • Story Text: Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich trounced front-runner Mitt Romney in South Carolina on Saturday (January 21) in a victory that indicates the party's battle to pick a challenger to President Barack Obama may last months, not weeks.
    Gingrich's come-from-behind triumph in the primary in the conservative southern state injects unexpected volatility into a Republican nominating race that until this week appeared to be a coronation for Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and private-equity chief. Instead, voters in South Carolina rejected Romney's pitch that he is the best bet to fix a broken U.S. economy and defeat Obama, a Democrat, in the Nov. 6 election.
    Gingrich told supporters in Columbia "This is the most important election of our lifetime. If Barack Obama can get re-elected after this disaster, hey, just think how radical he would be in a second term."
    Miriah Derby, told Reuters Television why she is supporting Gingrich. "I think he has a clear cut contrast to Obama and I think that is what we really need and he has some great ideas on how he is going to get America back on track."
    Three different candidates - Gingrich, Romney and former U.S. senator Rick Santorum - have now won the first three contests in the state-by-state battle for the Republican presidential nomination to face Obama. Gingrich's triumph may lead to a protracted battle of attrition as Republican candidates spend millions of dollars to tear each other down rather than uniting behind a standard-bearer to take back the White House.
    With nearly all the votes counted, Gingrich had pulled in 40 percent of the vote, followed by Romney with 28 percent, networks reported. Santorum was in third with 17 percent and U.S. congressman Ron Paul in fourth with 13 percent. Santorum received the highest number of votes in the Iowa caucuses on January 3 and Romney won the New Hampshire primary on January 10.
    The winner of South Carolina's Republican presidential primary has gone on to win the party's nomination in every presidential election since 1980.
    The next contest is the Florida primary on January 31.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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