ELECTION 2012:: Gingrich sees ‘real chance to win’ South Carolina’s primary
By MB Snow at January 18, 2012 | 12:04 am | Print
FLORENCE, S.C. – If Newt Gingrich is going to win Saturday’s South Carolina primary, he’s going to need a lot more new friends who are like Brad Turner.
Turner attended back-to-back events Tuesday held by former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and former House speaker Gingrich, and by the end of Gingrich’s event, his mind had started to change.
“I like Romney,” Turner, 29, a nuclear security officer from Florence, said. “But I kind of felt like that particular event didn’t have the closeness or feel like he was really focused on issues that pertain to South Carolinians.”
“After today I’m starting to lean toward Newt as far as the primary vote because on different issues that stand out to me, how our military is run and the Second Amendment, I really felt that fire coming from him,” he said.
Turner wasn’t alone. Several voters who attended one or both of the events Tuesday morning expressed a renewed interest in Gingrich as a result of his strong performance during Monday night’s debate in Myrtle Beach. Gingrich has no intention of wasting that momentum as Saturday draws closer.
Only he is the viable alternative to Romney, Gingrich has told voters here. A vote for former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, the surprise second-place finisher in the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, is a vote for Romney, Gingrich, said, because it dilutes the conservative vote.
“I think we have a very real chance to win,” Gingrich told reporters after his event here. “If you consolidate the three conservative candidates, we clearly would have a huge margin over Romney. The challenge to me is to convince conservatives to come home and have a single candidate on Saturday.”
via Gingrich sees ‘real chance to win’ South Carolina’s primary – USATODAY.com.