Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina primary and has the lead in delegates for the Republican Presidential nomination. Gingrich finished with 40% of the vote and gained momentum heading into Florida. Romney came in second with 27% and Santorum finished in third with 17% of the vote. The Gingrich win should help with fundraising as well as building a campaign infrastructure. The Florida primary will be held on January 31st and is a winner take all contest. Also, Florida is a closed primary and only Republicans are allowed to vote in the contest. In addition, there is expected to be over 200,000 votes cast through early voting and absentee ballots. The next Republican Presidential debate will be held in Tampa on January 23rd. There are 50 delegates at stake in the Florida Republican primary. After Florida, the next contests are the Nevada and Maine Republican caucuses scheduled for February 4th.
To read a related Roll Call article, please click here:
http://www.rollcall.com/news/Gingrich-Rolls-to-Victory-in-South-Carolina-211662-1.html?pos=hftxt
To read a related MSNBC article, please click here:
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/22/10210334-first-thoughts-the-race-is-on
Jim Sutliff