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A new InsiderAdvantage poll conducted Sunday night of likely Republican voters in the state of Florida shows a significant surge for Newt Gingrich. The poll has Mitt Romney leading with 36 percent of voters, followed by Gingrich at 31 percent. The Sunday results of 646 likely GOP voters are as follows: Romney 36 percent Gingrich 31 percent Santorum 12 percent Paul 12 percent Other/Undecided 9 percent "The race will be tighter than expected," Matt Towery, chief pollster of InsiderAdvantage told Newsmax. Towery noted that his poll showed a surge for Romney on Wednesday, with him leading Gingrich by 8 points....

..... I’ve got a new partisan breakdown of some numbers from the new NBC/WSJ poll, and here’s the verdict: Romney’s unfavorability rating among independents has spiked 20 points in the last two months. The poll found that among overall Americans, Romney is rated very or somewhat positively by 31 percent, while he’s rated very or somewhat negatively by 36 percent............ In November, Romney was rated somewhat or very negatively by 22 percent of independents. In December, Romney was rated somewhat or very negatively by 29 percent of independents. And in the new poll, Romney was rated somewhat or very negatively...

Gingrich 32% Romney 24% Paul 14% Santorum 13%

"50 Things you may not know about Rick Santorum......."

Sen. Rick Santorum has no viable path to victory and brings no new issues or ideas to the table. He no longer serves a purpose, or has a justification to remain in the race. Santorum has no viable claim that he is more conservative or more electable than Gingrich. He has no viable claim that he will be better in raising money, in organization, or would do a better job as president. There is simply no path for him. Further — despite winning Iowa, Santorum lost badly in NH and SC, and has no means to complete in FL. It...

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Rick Santorum, coming off a drubbing at the hands of fellow conservative Newt Gingrich in South Carolina, cancelled his scheduled appearance at an Univision forum, at least according to Univision..........

Rick Santorum has said he will be in the race for the long haul, and I have no reason to doubt his sincerity. But what message does it send his supporters in Florida that he’s not even hanging around for election night? Failing to show early signs of momentum in the Sunshine State, presidential hopeful Rick Santorum on Wednesday signaled he may be cutting out of Florida before the state’s Jan. 31 primary. Speaking to reporters here, the former Pennsylvania senator said was unsure if he would be in Florida the night of the primary, committing only to campaigning in...

Link Only, per rules: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-22/jeb-bush-cautions-republicans-on-tone-without-endorsing-any-candidate.html

........But his greatest presidential stumbling block may be right under his nose. At home, Newt's second wife, Marianne Ginther Gingrich, tells me she doesn't see herself in the First Lady's job. "Watching Hillary has just been a horrible experience," commiserates Marianne. "Hillary sticking her neck out is not working." What happens if Newt runs?, I ask. "He can't do it without me," she replies. "I told him if I'm not in agreement, fine, it's easy" --she giggles at her naughtiness. "I just go on the air the next day, and I undermine everything...I don't want him to be president and...

ATLANTA — As the GOP races settles into South Carolina, Mitt Romney isn’t enjoying the double-digit lead he held in New Hampshire, according to a survey conducted Wednesday night. The former Massachusetts governor’s lead is so small in the Palmetto State that he’s essentially tied with Newt Gingrich, according to a poll for the Augusta Chronicle and Savannah Morning News conducted by InsiderAdvantage/Majority Opinion Research. Romney’s 23 percent and Gingrich’s 21 fall within the 3.6 percent margin of error. Rick Santorum, who came in second in the Iowa caucus is in third pace in South Carolina with 14 percent, while...

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum touted an 11th-hour endorsement from conservative Christian leaders on Sunday ahead of South Carolina's crucial nominating contest but it appeared to have little influence on churchgoers. With South Carolina's January 21 primary approaching, time is running short for Santorum and other Republican candidates who hope to slow front-runner Mitt Romney's march to the Republican presidential nomination..... ....."I make decisions for myself and I don't listen to what a bunch of leaders say to do," said Victoria Jaworowski, who was attending the Cathedral of Praise mega-church in North Charleston. The Christian leaders meeting in Texas only...

Atlanta, GA - Several prominent Christian leaders from across the country have signed on to lead the official pastors and leaders faith coalition for Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign. The Gingrich Faith Leaders Coalition will be led by George Barna who has been hailed as "the most quoted person in the Christian Church today" having founded one of the country’s preeminent Christian polling and market research firms. Barna, who has never before endorsed a political candidate, explained in a statement that he broke his precedent in endorsing Gingrich to restore the “American vision.” “He is a man of great intellect and...

DUNCAN, S.C. -- As soon as Newt Gingrich wrapped up his remarks on Saturday night at a forum hosted by the Republican Parties of Greenville and Spartanburg counties, it was Rick Santorum's turn to take the stage. But Gingrich ensured that the spotlight remained on him. As the former Pennsylvania senator began his remarks to hundreds of GOP activists gathered inside a high school cafeteria, Gingrich drew most of the media on hand to a nearby hallway where he held a press conference apparently timed to steal Santorum's thunder. Gingrich took a pass when asked how, over the next week,...

GREENVILLE, S.C. - Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum sharpened his messages of populism and electability in South Carolina Saturday morning, saying "the grandson of a coal miner" is better equipped to relate to blue-collar voters in swing states than "a Bain executive." As Santorum's adversaries in the GOP field - particularly former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry - have attacked front-runner Mitt Romney's record at the private equity firm Bain Capital, Santorum has taken a pass, repeatedly saying he would not attack the capitalist system. Then today, the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania struck the theme...

PPP Poll (SC): Romney 29%, Gingrich 24%, Paul 15%, Santorum 14%

Over the next week, we’re going to see a lot of polling in South Carolina, and note the consistencies and the differences between them, and Ramussen and ARG get us off to a good start today. Both polls released today show Mitt Romney in the lead, and both show Newt Gingrich in second place — but the two diverge at that point: Mitt Romney leads the South Carolina Republican presidential primary with 29%. Newt Gingrich is in second place with 25% and Ron Paul is in third place with 20%. Paul has gained the most and Rick Santorum has lost...

Like a lot of people, I was fairly startled by Mitt Romney’s new defense of his work at Bain: it was just like the auto bailout! “In the general election, I’ll be pointing out that the president took the reins of General Motors and Chrysler, closed factories, closed dealerships, laid off thousands and thousands of workers. He did it to try to save the business,” Romney said on “CBS This Morning.” “We … had, on occasion, to do things that are tough to try to save a business.” The first thought is, didn’t Romney write an op-ed titled Let Detroit...

Gayle White's antiques shop was empty, just her and a million little cups, lamp shades and dusty postcards. The radio was tuned to Rush Limbaugh ranting against the Republican presidential candidates attacking Mitt Romney's business record. "Nobody likes to fire anybody, but if you're going to make a business successful, sometimes you have to let people go," White said Tuesday, parroting Limbaugh. "It's not fun and nobody likes it, but it is capitalism. There's nothing wrong with capitalism." That abstract view quickly fades into real-life experience in this small, economically struggling community. A company owned by Romney's private equity firm...

Mitt Romney told CNBC Wednesday that he’s happy to have a debate about private equity alleged role in killing American jobs — because President Obama also forced companies to shed jobs at car dealerships during the auto bailout. So it is somewhat ironic that Romney’s former firm, Bain & Company, was among the private consulting firms that advised the Obama auto bailout team. And what did Bain recommend? Cutting dealerships. Romney’s ties to Bain Capital and its predecessor firm Bain & Company have come under scrutiny in recent days as his GOP rivals accuse him of “vulture capitalism” that made...

Instead of getting a bounce, Romney’s poll numbers are sinking in South Carolina. As I suggested, this ad attack is powerful. He’s followed it up by painting him as governing pro-abortion. Krauthammer is right — Romney’s got to show he can respond. If these attacks work in a Republican primary, imagine how effective Obama will find them in November. BTW, no signs yet that the negative ads are hurting Gingrich, either.