The Southern Showdown in Politics

          Well what a night in the Palmetto State!  I, among others, did not see the results turn out quite like that; at least nobody predicted the events to unfold like they did.  Okay, so let's get to the results:

                                 South Carolina 2012 GOP Presidential Primary Results

                                 1st Place - Newt Gingrich 40%  (243,153 votes)
                                 2nd Place - Mitt Romney 28% (167,279 votes)
                                 3rd Place - Rick Santorum 17% (102,055 votes)
                                 4th Place - Ron Paul 13% (77,993 votes)

                              Also, my predictions for South Carolina were as followed:

                                 1st Place - Romney 33%
                                 2nd Place - Gingrich 31%
                                 3rd Place - Santorum 19 %
                                 4th Place - Paul 17%                                     

          Looking back at the results from the South Carolina primary, I knew a few things would happen: Santorum would do better than Paul; Santorum would get close to 19%; Gingrich would get over 30% (haha); and, nobody would drop out of the race to become the party's nominee. The main thing to take away from South Carolina is the win of Newt Gingrich and how he pulled an upset over Mitt Romney.
          The overwhelming observation - in addition to winning - is the percentage in which Newt Gingrich won in South Carolina over the "establishment candidate" as coined by the Speaker himself.  It is very reminiscent of McCain's 17% win over Romney back in 2008 (remember that Romney finished a distant fourth place only earning 15% of the votes cast). While Gingrich's lead was not as high as McCain's, it still proves that South Carolina does not like Mitt Romney on multiple positions ranging from his faith, his "elite style of living", and his attitude.  I guess in the eyes of "conservative South Carolinian's", being a Mormon is worse than an adulterer and they can't recognize one greedy corrupt politician from another. I don't know if that's ironic or not...but it is funny never-the-less.  Even Gingrich's "victory" speech was in his usual arrogant, flat, professor-lecturing-for-hours-because-he-has-tenure voice.  The rhetoric of "Obama is the worst president" and "Obama has a poor job performance" is just outrageous and insulting.
          If Newt actually believes he is going to earn the GOP nomination, then he is sadly mistaken! I find it hard to believe that Gingrich will be able to convince the GOP that he can challenge the President in November...and win.  With many of his former colleagues against him, at least one ex-wife, and two different states (Iowa and New Hampshire), he has a long shot of winning the nomination.  Even prominent Republicans like Senator Tom Coburn - Oklahoma, and Chris Christie - governor from New Jersey, think he is not fit to be the GOP nominee (I even forgot to mention Ron Paul - congressman from Texas - and Rick Santorum - former senator from Pennsylvania, haha).  the fact that the Republican Party is split between the old republicans and the new extreme republicans is just a sad thing.  They have no viable candidate to even attempt to challenge the President in November.  I even heard one conservative commentator today discuss the possibility of delegates to the Republican National Convention being split on who the nominee should even be! I guess time will tell and I think 2012 will be the year that all states, not just the first four or five states, will have a chance to have their voice heard regarding who should be on the ballot in November.
          The next state the republican candidates will head to on the road to the nomination is indeed Florida.  This is the state that won the site for the Party National Convention for 2012 (the site is Tampa by the way).  From my understanding, Florida is more moderate than South Carolina (thanks to the northerners who moved down there) and I'm certain John McCain won the state with 36% of the vote back in 2008.  In fact, McCain beat Romney by just 5% back in 2008.  If McCain voters are still not warming up to Romney this year and they support Gingrich, then Newt may win the Sunshine State in addition to the Palmetto State.  I guess we'll have to watch the debate on Thursday night and see if Romney can rebound after his lose in South Carolina.
          On a positive note, President Obama will deliver his State of the Union Address on Tuesday night at 9.  Herman Cain will give the Tea Party response to the address and I don't know who will be giving the Republican response - but I image it will be a member from a swing state!