News Fieend will live-tweet results and analysis tonight after the polls close
In a few hours, the polls will close in the Palmetto State, South Carolina, and the nation will learn if the “conservative firewall” has held or was broken by Mitt Romney.
Polls seem to indicate that it will, as the former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich of Georgia, has rocketed out to a lead following two strong debate performances. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney appears to have shed his New Hampshire momentum in the past week, and you know the saying, “a week is an eternity in politics” (or something very close to that; you get it).
Gingrich has come under fire in recent days from one of his ex-wives, who went to the media and told them all about how the former speaker wanted an “open marriage.” Those attacks do not appear to be sticking to Gingrich at this stage, and in fact, he gained quite a bit of conservative cred by taking the issue, which was John King’s first question in the Thursday CNN debate, turning it around on King, and bashing him over the head with it (and we know this to be true because the assembled crowd gave Gingrich a standing ovation). It could be made an issue in future primaries or in a potential general election campaign, but it does not appear to have had any effect here.
We know it won’t be Ron Paul or Rick Santorum. Paul’s vote is static and Santorum’s voters clearly saw the writing on the wall after Rick Perry dropped out (and endorsed Gingrich), switching to Newt to stop Mitt Romney. Ron Paul will stay in the race, as he has money, a dedicated following, and a message he wants to make sure is heard, but one wonders what the path forward will be for the former Pennsylvania senator if he has a bad showing in South Carolina tonight.
We will not have to wait long to find out, however. Buckle up, political junkies.
