Free Republic

Sarah Palin isn’t running for President, but she may be trying to influence how people vote. According to ABC News, Palin said that if she lived in South Carolina, she would vote for Newt Gingrich. “Just one week after her husband Todd Palin “went rogue” and endorsed Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin said tonight she would vote for Gingrich “if I were a South Carolinian” — the closest she has come to an endorsement in this race. Palin said tonight on “Sean Hannity” that she wants to see the race continue because “iron sharpens...

Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich​’s outstanding debate performance on Monday and key endorsements could set the stage for a strong showing by Gingrich in Saturday’s South Carolina primary, which would position him for a possible win in the Florida primary on Jan. 31 and a chance at the Republican nomination for President this summer. That’s what the two former Republican U.S. Representatives who are chairing Gingrich’s campaign in those two key states told HUMAN EVENTS yesterday. Following what even Gingrich’s enemies say was a virtuoso performance in the debate at Myrtle Beach (S.C.) Monday evening, former Reps. John Napier (S.C.) and...

Almost two-thirds of adult Facebook users in South Carolina say they aren't fans of the tea party, according to a Facebook poll conducted today with POLITICO. Sixty-two percent of those surveyed said they are "not at all supportive" of the tea party, compared with 20 percent who were "somewhat supportive" and 18 percent who were "very supportive." Of those surveyed, women were slightly less supportive of the tea party. Just 35 percent were either "somewhat" or "very" supportive of the movement, compared with 42 percent among men. The results only represent the sentiment of South Carolina users on Facebook, not...

Sarah Palin's not quite endorsing Newt Gingrich for president, but if she were a South Carolina voter, he's the one she'd cast her ballot for this weekend. The idea, Palin explained on Fox News, would be to keep the primary season going. Via Juana Summers, here's the case Palin made: "I can tell you what I would do if I were a South Carolinian…If I were a South Carolinian though, and each one of these primaries and caucuses are different, Sean, I want to see this thing continue because iron sharpens iron. Steel sharpens steel. These guys are getting better...

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) on Tuesday went after Newt Gingrich’s labeling of the Barack Obama as the “food stamp president,” charging the former speaker “denigrates” Americans trying to make ends meet during difficult economic times. “To say those kinds of things about the President of the United States, I think, not only tries to lower the office itself, but also denigrates those people who find themselves in need of food stamps,” the South Carolina Democrat said on Fox News, the morning after a GOP debate was held in his home state. Pressed on why the label was denigrating if Gingrich...

I just recieved a personal message from State Senator Kevin Bryant of South Carolina who has confirmed that he will indeed be supporting Congressman Ron Paul for President. Quite honestly, I wrote to the Senator asking him to reconsider his support for Paul. He sent me the following gracious email: "Great to hear from you Bill, I have chosen to support Dr. Paul as I believe his message energizes our base. Interestingly, even though he's the oldest candidate, the young voters seem to be attracted to him. Thanks for your input." I responded back that I sincerely hopes that he...

If former House Speaker Newt Gingrich does the impossible and somehow defeats Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination, analysts will look back and say the upset was sparked Monday night at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center. The knowledgeable, rhetorically gifted Newt Gingrich conservatives love showed up at the Fox News/Wall Street Journal debate and shook the house. Instead of shining by attacking Romney, he thrived by battling his old antagonists: the “elite” media and Texas Rep. Ron Paul. Asked by debate co-moderator Juan Williams whether he could understand why his comments that “black Americans should demand jobs not food stamps”...

I have been hounded in media interviews to give them the scoop on which Republican presidential candidate I ‘m going to endorse. When I respond that it will be “unconventional,” they go nuts because they cannot conceive of what that means. That’s not the way they think. So they try to guess what it means based on conventional political practice. You will be endorsing yourself getting back into the presidential race, they guess. Nope. You will be endorsing someone that’s not in the race, they suggest. Nope. You will be endorsing two of the remaining candidates instead of one. No...

Big government conservatives will never truly overhaul Washington because they need the status quo in place to accomplish their objectives. They don’t want to rebuild the machine; they simply want to change the people pulling the levers. But that is not what the American people want. There is such deep and widespread discontent that nothing short of a complete overhaul will satisfy their justifiable demands. The American people expect changes equal to their concern, which is the highest it’s been in at least a generation, and I am the only candidate with a vision that is as strong and sweeping...

FOX's Neil Cavuto interviews Club for Growth's Andy Roth who rates the GOP presidential candidates economic plans.

Three new polls show former House Speaker Newt Gingrich gaining on Mitt Romney in South Carolina and emerging as the clear conservative choice of voters who are not backing the former Massachusetts governor for the Republican presidential nomination. An Insider Advantage/Majority Opinion Research survey completed on Thursday shows that Gingrich is actually in a statistical tie with Romney in South Carolina, with 21.3 percent of the vote to Romney’s 23.1. Gingrich leads Romney in several demographic groups, including voters 18 to 29 years old, black voters, male voters, and Independents. Ron Paul and Rick Santorum each received 13 percent of...

Call it the case of the rising Texan and plunging Pennsylvanian. Here’s how GOP presidential hopefuls fared in a second round of South Carolina polls released Friday. (The fine print: Two sets of polls from Rasmussen Reports, Public Policy Polling and American Research Group have been released in the past week -- before and after the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday): Winner: Ron Paul Who cares if the Texas congressman has made one announced campaign visit in South Carolina since finishing second in the New Hampshire primary. He’s got the momentum, gaining 22 percentage points combined in the three polls...

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint are two powerful conservative voices in Republican politics, but they seem to be coming at the race for the Republican presidential nomination from totally different angles. Jim DeMint took to the airwaves on The Laura Ingraham Show to warn former House Speaker Newt Gingrich -- and all of the other presidential candidates -- to tone down their campaign rhetoric in the Palmetto State. “I would encourage all of the candidates, ‘let’s just be as positive as we can.’ I know they’re frustrated if people run negative ads,” DeMint said....

The first female and minority governor of South Carolina, swept into office by a wave of Republican energy in a mid-term election, was supposed to be the top prize. Gov. Nikki Haley's endorsement was coveted by numerous presidential candidates. She appeared at events with Rep. Michele Bachmann and Gov. Rick Perry. She welcomed Bachmann, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Gov. Mitt Romney's wife to spend the night in the governor's mansion. In the end, after GOP candidates spent months campaigning on her pet issues, Haley returned the endorsement favor in December to Romney, who backed her early in...

We have FINALLY gotten into 2012 and are right at the beginning of the primary season with the Iowa Caucuses behind us, the New Hampshire primary yielded little surprises and the South Carolina Primary lurks in the shadows of the very near future. The field of candidates have predictably dwindled and will continue skinnying down until we are left with our nominee to run against Obama. Tim Pawlenty was the first casualty of Iowa after the Ames Straw Poll, followed by Herman Cain who withdrew amidst false charges of sexual misconduct, Gary Johnson left the Republican race to tilt at...

Via The Hill: Restore Our Future, a super PAC backing Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, will run full-page ads attacking Newt Gingrich in the Manchester Union Leader and The State in Columbia, South Carolina, the most prominent newspapers in the next two states to vote…. The decision to attack Gingrich is a curious one as Rick Santorum has emerged as Romney’s top rival for the GOP nomination after he virtually tied Romney in Iowa’s caucuses on Jan. 3. Post-voting analysis shows much of Gingrich’s support in that state ended up going to Santorum. Maybe I will be proven wrong about Santorum’s...

The primary’s on Saturday the 21st. He’s promising to endorse on Thursday the 19th at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, which happens to be hosting a presidential debate that same day. He’s timing it for maximum impact, in other words, right down to his choice of which primary to target: As a Georgia native, he might have a bit more sway over voters in SC than he would have had over Iowans, assuming he has any sway left over anyone. Question: Who would value his endorsement the most? Perry’s desperate for positive buzz of any kind but Cain’s already ruled...

Clemson University’s Palmetto Poll Executive Summary December 2011 With only one month to go before the important South Carolina presidential primary, a poll of likely voters in the Palmetto State shows Newt Gingrich surging, Romney on a popularity plateau, and the rest of the field of GOP presidential contenders stagnant or falling behind. The second Palmetto Poll finds Gingrich with more than three times the support he had just one month ago, up from 11% to 38%, while Romney remains at 21%, virtually the same (22%) number he had last month. With the exception of Ron Paul, who has risen...

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Mitt Romney is mocking Newt Gingrich's long record in Washington and says conservative tea party voters eventually will reject the former House speaker who's Romney chief presidential rival. Romney tells reporters in South Carolina that he thinks the state's tea party voters will turn on Gingrich because of his work for the mortgage company Freddie Mac and his consulting time in Washington....

Fresh TIME/CNN first-in-the-nation polls show Gingrich dominating Iowa, South Carolina and Florida — and within striking distance in New Hampshire. Iowa: Gingrich 33 — Romney 20 New Hampshire: Romney 35 — Gingrich 26 South Carolina: Gingrich 43 — Romney 20 Florida: Gingrich 48 — Romney 25 See the full results, including how the other candidates stack up, here. Halperin's Take-Static analysis: Gingrich will be the Republican nominee....