Who will win the Republican primary in South Carolina? (all predict a Newt win)

washingtonpost.com ^ | 1/20/2012 | PostOpinions staff

[TBBT]

Will Newt Gingrich stop Mitt Romney in South Carolina, or will Romney rack up another victory? Can Rick Santorum maintain any momentum from his showing in Iowa? Will Ron Paul surprise critics who insist he can’t win? We asked PostOpinions columnists, bloggers and editors how the candidates will stack up in Saturday’s South Carolina Republican primary election.

JONATHAN BERNSTEIN

Predicted standings: Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul

Newt has taken a real lead in the polls and should hold it through Saturday. Perhaps the bigger question right now is whether Santorum finishes strong enough to stay in the race a while longer, or whether his voters leave for the South Carolina frontrunners. My guess is that he revives a bit to finish in third place.

[TBBT]

Even Jennifer Rubin... She must have hated writing this...

[ScottinVA]

I predict it’ll be Newt in SC.

Wanted to add another point. Even though it’s just a primary, it was great to see Rick Santorum emerge as the winner in Iowa and snag a political victory, after that debacle in 2006 in PA. I was happy for him.

And, even better... it throws onto its ass end the grand assumption that Romney’s is “inevitable.”

[Hoodat]

The two moderate candidates are currently leading in the polls, but there’s still a chance for the conservative to pull out an upset win.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Jennifer Rubin: "Gingrich ekes out a victory, but is hurt at the end by his overplayed indignation act and reminders of his chaotic speakership."

Jenna appears like she's giving up her neocon status?

[Venturer]

It’s about time the RINO’s found out that the American people will pick our candidate.

I sure hope Newt wins.

I have nothing against Santorum, but it’s time he and Newt made a deal.It’s time we started backing one man who can beat Obama.

[Parley Baer]

“Even Jennifer Rubin... She must have hated writing this...”

I agree. By the way she has prostituted herself in this campaign for Mitt it must have been excruciating for her to write it. With the krap she has been putting out she has lost all credibility with me.

[Parley Baer]

Bottom line is we need to stop Mitt in South Carolina. We do no want the Washington RINO elites to choose our candidate for us. Let us the people make the choice.

[TBBT]

Maybe she’s angling to be Romney’s Press Secretary.

[BarnacleCenturion]

“My guess is that he revives a bit to finish in third place”

Bingo! Santorum had his best debate last night.

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if the 8% who left him for Newt made their way back. Especially in light of the Mariane fiasco which hasn’t been captured in any poll yet.

[Vendome]

That's where a record comes in. Not just the record of votes, which is often a meaningless toll of positions taken for political reasons on bills that were always going to pass or were never going to pass, but a record of actions taken that actually mattered.

A record of actions taken that actually mattered.  Newt is the man who fits that description to a "T".

He can identify what is most important to the country, develop a plan to overcome that challenge, articulate the the merits of overcoming the challenge and why the plan will work.

I hadn't been for Gingrich initially and spent plenty of energy excoriating him, these last several years, for any number of sins he committed against the Republican/Conservative ideals.  He seemed a turncoat of sorts, particularly when he babysat Pelosi on the couch.

On reflection, Newt is an attention whore seeking relevancy for his ideas and I guess I take him at his word that he made a few mistakes in his life and he has at least some regret for those decisions.  God knows I am no angel and so I have to reflect on the man's ability to get things done.

Newt gave us the Republican majority, the Contract with America and completed 2/3rds of his agenda while in office.

He now has a new plan for America and with what is likely to become a Congressional Super Majority and a Senate Majority, if not Super Majority, I believe he will absolutely accomplish his agenda.

Say goodbye to ObamaCare the single biggest scam and travesty foisted upon a free people who, by right, ought to have been given the opportunity to read the bill and debate it.  Instead, a win at all cost, cheating agenda was developed and it was signed with most people never laying eyes on at least page 2 of this utopian dreck.

Executive Orders Positions:

The following are all within the executive powers to simply order and with the exception of securing the border within one year, they are all easily accomplished with the stroke of a pen and no way to challenge them in the legislature.

Keystone may be challenged in the courts but I think the Executive can order the EPA to approve, under National Security Priorities and it is a National Security issue, as well, a jobs issue.

As President, Newt, could actually have a very busy 1st week or month just on these initiative alone.

1. Eliminate the thirty-nine White House "Czar" positions created during the current administration. The president does not have the authority to appoint bureaucrats to power who are not accountable to the Congress.

2. "Mexico City Policy" of Respect for Life. Reauthorize President Ronald Reagan’s policy – also known as the "Mexico City Policy"— to stop tax payer dollars from being used to fund or promote abortions in foreign countries.

3. Restore conscience clause protections for Healthcare Workers.No American working in a medical environment should be forced to perform any procedure that he or she finds morally or ethically objectionable based on religious teaching. This protection should include, but not be limited to abortion. Existing conscience clause protections need to be strengthened.

4. Respect Each Sovereign Nation’s Choice of its Capital. Each sovereign nation, under international law and custom, may designate its own Capital. Accordingly, the U.S. State Department should be instructed to respect the choice of each sovereign nation and place the American embassy in their Capital.  (Israel is the only country the United States discriminates against in this regard. The people of Israel have designated Jerusalem as their capital. Yet the United States retains its embassy in Tel Aviv.) 

5. End the Attorney General's Assault on the States. Instruct the Attorney General to withdraw all immigration-related lawsuits against states immediately, including those pending in Arizona and South Carolina. The Obama Administration refuses to enforce federal immigration laws, and instead sues states who are merely trying to enforce the laws that the federal government neglects. The Gingrich Administration will secure the border by Jan. 1, 2014 by any means necessary. 

6. The Keystone Pipeline

Unleash American Energy by Approving the Keystone XL Pipeline. Instruct the State Department to approve a Presidential Permit immediately for the Keystone XL pipeline, a project that will send 700,000 barrels of oil a day from Great Plains and Southwestern states to Gulf Coast refineries lower staggering energy prices, and create up to 120,000 American jobs.

LEGISLATIVE PROPOSALS

 Now we get into the details of an inclusive agenda that brings the people(you and me), through their representatives, into process.  The TEA Party and conservatives are going to have a majority in both houses.

Let’s elect an Executive who will absolutely fulfill the promise of our ideals.

Executive Summary

1. Repeal Obamacare and pass a replacement that saves lives and money by empowering patients and doctors, not bureaucrats and politicians.
2. Return to robust job creation with a bold set of tax cuts and regulatory reforms that will free American entrepreneurs to invest and hire, as well as by reforming the Federal Reserve and creating a training requirement for extended federal unemployment benefits to encourage work and improve the quality of our workforce.
3. Unleash America’s full energy production potential in oil, natural gas, coal, biofuels, wind, nuclear oil shale and more, creating jobs,  stimulating a sustainable manufacturing boom, lowering gasoline and other energy prices, increasing government revenues, and bolstering national security.
4. Save Medicare and Social Security by giving Americans more choices and tools to live longer, healthier lives with greater financial independence.
5. Balance the federal budget by freeing job-creators to grow the economy, reforming entitlements, and implementing waste cutting and productivity improvement systems such as Lean Six Sigma to eliminate waste and fraud. Pass a balanced budget amendment to keep it balanced.
6. Control the border by January 1, 2014 and establish English as the official language of government; reform the legal visa system, and make it much easier to deport criminals and gang members while making it easier for law abiding visitors to come to the US.
7. Revitalize our national security system to meet 21st century threats by restructuring and adequately funding our security agencies to function within a grand strategy for victory over those who seek to kill us or limit American power.
8. Maximize the speed and impact of medical breakthroughs by removing unnecessary obstacles that block new treatments from reaching patients and emphasizing research spending towards urgent national priorities, like brain science with its impact on Alzheimer’s, autism, Parkinson's, mental health and other conditions knowledge of the brain will help solve. 
9. Restore the proper role of the judicial branch by using the clearly delineated powers available to the president and Congress to correct, limit, or replace judges who violate the Constitution.
10. Enforce the Tenth Amendment by starting an orderly transfer of power and responsibility from the federal government back “to the states, respectively, or to the people,” as the Constitution requires. Over the next year, state and local officials and citizens will be asked to identify the areas which can be transferred back home.    

Newt gave us the three most important victories of the 90’s Welfare Reform, Balanced Budget and Reduced Taxes.  I hope I don’t need to describe the benefits of those victories.  They ought to be obvious to everyone by now.

Lastly, there have been some reports that Newt shouldn’t get all the credit.  Really?  Then perhaps we marginalize the accomplishments of Washington, Roosevelt, Kennedy and ….wait for it… Reagan.

Do we really want to go down the road with that kind of adolescent sophistry and parsing of what happened?

Newt is the guy who thought of these big things, proposed them and shepherded their implementation?

Newt has once again identified what is important to us now, at this time and described how we can get there with our representative majorities. He has done it before and I declare Newt Gingrich was then and is Now a leader.

We should elect Newt Gingrich to the Presidency of the United States

[jpsb]

Thanks to Sara Newt will win and become the front runner.

[ZX12R]

The two moderate candidates are currently leading in the polls, but there’s still a chance for the conservative to pull out an upset win.

Only if he finds an old lamp on the beach containing a genie granting wishes, before Saturday.

[SDShack]

After last night, I think it might end up Newt, Paul, Romney, Santorum. But I would be happiest if it ends Newt, Paul, Santorum, Romney. Can you imagine the media anguish if Romney finishes 3rd or 4th!?

[Grunthor]

Newt 43%

Mitt 30%

Paul 20%

Santorum 7%

(Third and fourth could switch but only Santorum might do the right thing and drop out.)

[Berlin_Freeper]

Republican presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich smiles while touring the University of South Carolina Children's Hospital on January 20, 2012 in Charleston, South Carolina. Polls show that Gingrich's popularity in the state has surged ahead of Saturday's primary election.

[GoMonster]

all liberals want Newt to win. It is their own version of operation chaos. They would love Obama to run against Newt...but they know most likely will just cost Romney some more time and money, which is less he would have against Obama...but needless to say maybe will make him a better candidate.

[Grunthor]

So you support Romney because “he can win?”

How do you suppose he’ll do when conservatives don’t vote for him but do vote in the congressional races?

Do you think that the liberals in the G.O.P. elite will get the message (finally) that we are DONE with their Fords, their Dole’s, their McCains’, their Romneys’?

Meaning, do you think they will finally understand that if we wanted to vote for a scumbag liberal sack of manure, we’d be voting Democrat?

[ZX12R]

How do you suppose he’ll do when conservatives don’t vote for him but do vote in the congressional races?

No kidding. Romney is McCain all over again, and without Sarah Palin dragging in the conservatives kicking and screaming. If Romney is the pick, the election is over at that very point.

[Servant of the Cross]

all liberals want Newt to win.

You could not be more wrong. A completely ignorant post.

[Belteshazzar]

Love the graphic. Keep it handy. It will be useful many more times between now and the first Tuesday in November.