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In the most recent 2012FloridaPrimary.com poll, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich got the big bump he needed from his victory in South Carlina and moved from his 19% to first place with 29%. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney picked up 2% of the undecided and came in second with 25%. Former Senator Rick Santorum ticked up a point finishing in third with 15%. Ron Paul, who intends to bypass the Florida Primary still polled at 7%. With the “Undecided” still at 23%, the fact remains anyone can still win in the winner-take-all Florida Primary.

While Gingrich's come-from-behind victory in Saturday's South Carolina primary has put a halt to discussions of Mitt Romney as the inevitable GOP nominee, the former Massachusetts governor remains the heavy favorite for the next primary contest in Florida and the Republican nomination. For the former House speaker to fully claw his way back into contention, he'll have to put together a remarkable week in the lead-up to the Jan. 31 Sunshine state primary. Luckily for Gingrich, he already has a template: his successful effort in South Carolina. The former Speaker's upset win in the Palmetto state — he was trailing...

As a Christian, I will neither defend nor excuse Newt’s past adultery. That said, after watching his ex-wife Marianne go off on him on ABC, as a man, I now get why he supposedly wanted an “open marriage.” Holy crikey. That chick is scary! Hell hath no fury like a furry woman. That’s one angry, gangrenous ex-Gingrich chica right there, folks. Let’s see … what do we have here? Lonely and bitter? Table for one? Now, before I get my inbox stuffed with hate mail labeling me insensitive, calling Newt a cad, and painting Marianne as a damsel in distress,...

When Newt Gingrich got humiliated three weeks ago in Iowa, he responded the way any self-respecting political scrapper would after being beaten down and bloodied. He got up and started swinging wildly. Not just at the guy who knocked him out, but at any foe (hello media elite!) who dared come within reach. Contrast that with Mitt Romney, a candidate so scripted and disciplined even his one-liners in TV debates sound poll-tested and focus grouped. “I will show passion and, from time to time, perhaps a little energy — as I feel it in my heart,” Romney said on the...

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla.— Rick Santorum kicked off his Florida campaign here Sunday by aiming directly at Newt Gingrich. “It’s great to be glib, but it’s better to be principled,” the former Pennsylvania senator told a crowd of more than 200 standing in a hot parking lot of a strip mall in this town outside Fort Lauderdale. Santorum dismissed the idea that the South Carolina primary reshaped the race into a Gingrich-Mitt Romney face-off. Saturday’s results could very quickly be overshadowed by the Jan. 31 Florida primary, in which he’s hoping to reemerge as a factor. “You have three candidates who...

The nature of this peculiar primary season – the reason it seems at odds with both the 2009-2010 political narrative and the seriousness of the times – was determined by Mitt Romney. Even if you don’t mind RomneyCare, or the abortion flip-flop, or any of the rest, there’s a more basic problem: He’s not a natural campaigner, and on the stump he instinctively recoils from any personal connection with the voters. So, in compensation, he’s bought himself a bunch of A-list advisors and a lavish campaign. He is, as he likes to say, the only candidate with experience in the...

Courtesy of one friend, an old pro, three perhaps overlooked points in the sea of analysis of South Carolina and beyond: “I notice that everyone’s citing all kinds of reasons for S.C.: Romney overconfident, Perry's endorsement, Romney doesn't connect, Barnes’s argument that Romney needs a ‘big idea.’ Lost in all this it seems is one name: Sarah Palin. First time she has expressed herself in the race and her candidate wins by 12. If she really comes out for Newt, look out. “Second thought: Paul has potential to give Romney lots of trouble in caucus states. “Final point: Some argue...

On a Sunday morning appearance on “Fox & Friends,” conservative columnist Ann Coulter explained why Romney fell short in the South Carolina GOP presidential primary, blaming the priorities of South Carolina voters for Gingrich’s success. “Apparently, South Carolinians would rather have the emotional satisfaction of a snotty remark toward the president than to beat Obama in the fall,” Coulter, the author of “Demonic: How the Liberal Mob Is Endangering America,” said. “We saw it in the debates when Gingrich would say things that didn’t really make sense. That is what you usually associate with Democrats, which I described in my...

Willard Romney has already bought 2.5 million dollars' worth of ads in Florida; Newt, so far, none. Please donate to the cause, today, often, and as much as you can. There is a million-dollar moneybomb going on right now. www.newt.org/donate I also have another request, and I hope that is okay: As part of my neighborhood grassroots activity for Newt, we are planning to do a sticky-note tsunami in Florida with individual sticky-notes for different grocery items, and at the gas pumps. For example, we would like to do stickies for specific items, like a loaf of bread, a dozen...

Of all the qualities people look for in their leaders, here’s one you don’t hear very often: Mean. Filled with integrity? Yes. Visionary? Certainly. Magnanimous? Sure. But mean? Not one that comes up that frequently. This, of course, was the response one voter gave to Post reporters for why he voted for Newt Gingrich in Saturday’s primary in South Carolina, which the former speaker won by 12 points, thereby upending the Republican race. “I think we’ve reached a point where we need someone who’s mean,” an 85-year-old Harold Wade said in Sullivan’s Island, S.C. Others weren’t so candid, but said...

They just don't get it. Who? The establishment GOP. Barbour, Christy, Coulter, et al. We are sick of spineless "leaders." We are sick of the left dominated media. We are sick of the "go along to get along" establishment GOP. We've been castigated, marginalized, taxed, and beaten down for years. Now comes Newt. For all his past flaws, he clearly hears our roar. We have a fighter, a real leader. And we could care less about the ankle biters. Hear this, establishment types: Newt has awoken a sleeping giant. As history shows, this particular giant is an unstoppable force. So...

Newt Gingrich on CBS’ “Face the Nation” this morning turned analyst about why top opponent Mitt Romney stumbled in South Carolina. Authenticity is the issue, Gingrich told Bob Schieffer. Gingrich described former Massachusetts Gov. Romney as “a very good salesman, very much wants to sell, but he has a really weak product. And so I think he’s been dancing on eggs trying to find a version of Romney that will work. And I think the more he dances the more people go — you know, give me the real … I have flaws, I have weaknesses, I’ve had a long...

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie appeared on Meet the Press today to do damage control for Mitt Romney and to explain why Newt Gingrich would not be an ideal Republican nominee despite his strong victory in South Carolina last night. He claimed that Gingrich’s past actions have embarrassed the Republican party, and Mitt Romney was more suited to be the nominee because of his record and how he conducted himself in office as opposed to Gingrich. David Gregory asked Christie to explain what about Newt Gingrich’s politics or his character disqualified him from being the Republican nominee against President Obama....

Chris Christie isn’t shy about playing Romney’s attack dog. This morning on Meet the Press, he said Gingrich has been “an embarrassment to the party”, citing his ethics violation and the fact that he was thrown out as Speaker of the House by his own party. Gingrich, on the other hand, showed this morning that he is his own best attack dog, suggesting that Romney’s arguments on Bain wouldn’t stand up to “a high school debater.” Gingrich suggested his own debate performance was a big contributor to his success in South Carolina. “One of the reasons I think people in...

Not even 24 hours passed before the Establishment hive was out in force this morning, after Newt Gingrich's stunning decimation of Mitt Romney in the South Carolina primary. Chris Christie said that Newt has been an embarrassment to the party. His political paramour, Ann Coulter (who endorsed Romney in 2008, then Christie this cycle, and now Romney again...three liberals in a row) deemed him the "least conservative" of the current field and the least electable, among other snarky and degrading comments I will not repeat. Paradoxically, She also repeated the old liberal saw that we need to reach to the...

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- This southern state and the Republican nomination race may be far removed from Canada, but that didn't stop Palmetto State primary winner Newt Gingrich from giving a shout out to Prime Minister Stephen Harper in his victory speech. While blasting President Barack Obama for rejecting the Keystone XL Pipeline and the thousands of jobs it has been estimated it would create, Gingrich warned Canada will send its oil to China instead. And he praised Harper, too. "What Prime Minister Harper -- who, by the way, is conservative and pro-American -- what he has said is he's gonna...

SummaryIn 2009, Congressman Gingrich supported a candidate for a special election for the 23rd district in New York that was pro-choice, pro gay marriage and supportive of numerous other items that most Republicans opposes. A more conservative candidate was available, but did not win a primary that consisted of a vote by 11 district members and not a public vote. Congressman Gingrich came out in suppport for Mrs Scozzafava as she was the selected candidate for the Republican party. He asserted that many of her principles were in line with the Republican party. He appeared on numerous radio shows to...

It is always here in the birthplace of the Civil War that things go bump in the night for presidential campaigns. In 2000, John McCain’s surge for the GOP nomination was derailed by rumors he had a love child. Four years ago, Bill Clinton injected race into the Democratic nomination in an effort to derail Barack Obama’s juggernaut campaign in South Carolina. But all the shady twists and turns of the past were nothing compared with the Spanish moss-draped soap opera that has unfolded here in the past week.

In a normal week, a debate audience booing the Golden Rule might have made headlines for several days. Partisan churls shout down beloved precept. Golden Rule gets leaden response in Myrtle Beach.

What are we to make of Newt’s win in South Carolina? Several things, I think... 1. Newt is a winner... 2. Newt is a fighter... 3. Newt can blow it... There, [in South Carolina], in one night, and within the span of only one hour, we saw the two sides of Newt: We saw the good Newt who can win this thing and, in so doing, “fundamentally transform American politics,” as he would say. But we also saw the bad Newt, the undisciplined and unfocused Newt: the Newt who too often tries to wing it and fails. I’m rooting for...