SEVERAL OPINION polls indicate the former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich could win the South Carolina primary for the Republican presidential nomination today.
A Public Policy tracking poll released on Thursday showed Gingrich in the lead with 34 per cent, followed by Mitt Romney at 28 per cent, Ron Paul at 15 per cent and Rick Santorum at 14 per cent.
But that poll was contradicted by a Politico survey that put Romney in the lead with 37 per cent to 30 per cent for Gingrich.
If Gingrich defeats Romney, it will shatter Romney’s aura of inevitability and transform the January 31st primary in Florida from a virtual coronation of Romney to a fierce battle for the Republican nomination.
Inhabitants of South Carolina seemed to prefer Gingrich’s angry, combative performance in the last pre-primary debate on Thursday night to Romney’s steady, often sanctimonious approach.
The debate started with a question about Gingrich’s ex-wife’s claim that he had asked her to accept an “open marriage” in which she would have shared him with his mistress.
Mr Gingrich lashed out at the CNN presenter John King, saying: “The destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office. And I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that . . .
“To take an ex-wife and make it two days before the primary a significant question for a presidential campaign is as close to despicable as anything I can imagine.”
Attacks on the media have been a staple of Mr Gingrich’s debating technique, and are crowd-pleasers.
The audience rose to its feet, applauding and chanting “Newt. Newt. Newt.”
A chastised Mr King seemed to apologise: “This story did not come from our network . . . I’m not – I get your point. I take your point.”
Gingrich grew more vehement. “It was repeated by your network,” he said menacingly. “You chose to start the debate with it. Don’t try to blame somebody else.”
Only then, almost as an afterthought, did Gingrich deny the allegation: “Let me be quite clear. The story is false . . . I am tired of the elite media protecting Barack Obama by attacking Republicans.”
Though his answers for the remainder of the two-hour debate were less forceful, Gingrich had effectively stolen the show in its opening moments.
Voters yesterday seemed divided between those who admired Gingrich’s pugnacity and others who doubted his veracity and moral standards.
Rick Santorum, the former senator who received the endorsement of evangelical leaders last weekend, said: “I thank God for forgiveness. But, you know, these are issues of our lives and what we did in our lives. They are issues of character for people to consider.”
Romney feigned disdain for the question of Gingrich’s past philandering, saying he wanted to “get on to the real issues”.
Ron Paul, who maintained the lightest and most humorous tone of the four candidates, said he was “very proud that my wife of 54 years is with me tonight.”
A half-hearted attempt by Gingrich to revive questions over Romney’s role as a private equity investor enabled Romney to portray himself as the champion of capitalism.
“My view is capitalism works. Free enterprise works,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with profit, by the way.”
Romney went on to say he would “defend capitalism across this country, throughout this campaign.” He would “get hit hard from President Obama, but we’re going to stuff it down his throat and point out it is capitalism and freedom that makes America strong.”
The statement was labelled the "foie gras attack" by Michael Scherer of Timemagazine.
Gingrich had suggested that Santorum – who received more votes in Iowa and New Hampshire than he did – should withdraw from the South Carolina race so that a “true conservative” – ie Gingrich – would have a better chance of beating Romney.
“Grandiosity has never been a problem with Newt Gingrich,” Santorum said, accusing the former House Speaker of having “grandiose ideas and grandiose projects” that he was unable to execute.
“And that’s really one of the issues here, folks,” Santorum continued, echoing the criticism of other Republicans who served under Gingrich in Congress.
“I don’t want a nominee that I have to worry about going out and looking at the paper the next day and figuring out what is he going to say next.”
Gingrich styles himself a “bold Reagan conservative”, boasts of the role he played in the “Reagan revolution”, and often uses a photograph of himself with Ronald Reagan in his campaign.
In a consummate put-down, Romney said he had searched through Ronald Reagan’s diary and found only one mention of Gingrich.
“And in the diary, he says you had an idea in a meeting of young congressmen, and it wasn’t a very good idea and he dismissed it. That’s the entire mention.”
Romney must have anticipated a question about his income tax returns, which he has refused to release before April. Yet he seemed destabilised by the issue.
When asked whether he would follow the example of his father, who also stood for the presidency, in releasing documents for multiple years, he said, “maybe”.
The audience booed.
Asked what he would do differently in the campaign, Romney said he would “take every moment I spent talking about one of the guys on the stage” and devote it instead to the failings of President Obama.
Romney has spent more money on attack advertising than his opponents.
As he spoke, his campaign was transmitting what one journalist called “the best press release of all time”.
It bears the title “I think grandiose thoughts”, a quote from Gingrich in the debate, and provides a meticulously documented list of Gingrich’s most pompous statements, and of the historic figures he has compared himself to.
The later include Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Charles De Gaulle, William Wallace, Pericles, the Duke Of Wellington, Thomas Edison and the Old Testament prophet Moses.