I'm glad to see people setting aside prejudice, but the explanations go deeper than pragmatism.
Newt Gingrich has had three wives and was cheating on his previous wife before marrying each of the second two. He has been a professor, a Congressman, and a lobbyist. We've had three years of a professor in the White House, and that's not working well for us. Congressmen have a horrible approval rating right now, and lobbyists are lower than Congressmen. After months of saying that he wouldn't let the media stir up a feeding frenzy among GOP candidates, he's flip-flopped and gone completely negative. Dr. Gingrich is a smart man with some good ideas, but his only experience is in government. Many people are looking for some other perspective to solve problems this time.
Rick Perry has shown that he's not that conservative after all. His big achievement was to be the trans-Texas corridor in spite of the huge waste of money and the eminent domain problems. His Texas DREAM Act does not play well among Republicans in general and particularly in South Carolina. He still hasn't leveled with the voters about his reasoning on the Gardasil issue, and his lie in that debate looks bad. On the pragmatic side, a guy who only gets 1% in New Hampshire isn't likely to beat Obama in November.
Rick Santorum looks pretty good, but in South Carolina, he's just another Yankee. His big government positions on many issues don't sit well with an electorate that is deeply concerned about spending. His 17 point loss in his last election looks bad. I had been inclined to write off some of that margin to the difficulty of running against someone from the Casey family in Pennsylvania. I've recently heard that Rick Santorum has always been somewhat friendly to the PETA and HSUS people. Considering that both are strongly opposed to hunting, getting chummy with them could have hurt him in pro-hunting Pennsylvania. Being PETA-friendly is not good for anyone in the South although I can't see Obama winning any southern states regardless of the GOP nominee.
Jon Huntsman can try to be more westerner than Yankee, but he's a guy who worked for Obama. He can't spend the huge amount of time in South Carolina that he's already spent in New Hampshire. I've seen him in a long format debate, and he's not as bad there as he is in shorter format debates. Even so, he's not going to get a chance to do well in South Carolina.
Ron Paul thinks Iran should have nuclear weapons. South Carolina won't appreciate that position in a candidate.
If Mark Sanford hadn't become involved in an affair, he'd have had a clear path to the nomination through Iowa and South Carolina. He would have done well enough in New Hampshire and might have even won Florida. Only so many people can prepare to have a legitimate run for president, and he was one of them. By his choices, he disqualified himself (although the same choices don't seem to have disqualified Dr. Gingrich).
If George Allen of Virginia had avoided using an ethnic slur in his 2006 Senate race and had held onto that seat against James Webb, he would have been a strong candidate this year and would have almost certainly would have won South Carolina if Mark Sanford weren't in the race. He doesn't have quite as much private sector experience as most of us would like, but he had good qualifications.
The GOP lost the two candidates who would have been the legitimate front-runners in South Carolina. Given what's left, I'm not surprised that South Carolina evangelicals are putting aside anti-Mormon bias and looking again at Mitt Romney.
Santorum was actually born in the South. I don't know why he isn't advertising that point.
>> South Carolina evangelicals are putting aside anti-Mormon bias and looking again at Mitt Romney.
Who are you kidding? They probably don’t know he’s Mormon.
Unlike Romney, Gingrich admits to his mistakes and immorality.
Wake up!
The liberal Willard is not an option at all to WIN SC, the Decider State since 1980..
Willard the Lib’s 23% versus the three conservatives combined 40% tells you that.
Only Establishment hacks will vote for Romney.
Southerners will vote for Gingrich, he ll win a close one in South Carolina and route Mittens in Florida.
Haley should expect a huge challenge in 14 as well.
The real elections begin now, not those circus affairs in Iowa and NH.
Go Gingrich.