Washington —- “Three states, three winners, what a great country!” Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum told a crowd in Charleston, South Carolina, on the evening of January 21, after the polls had closed in that state.
South Carolina voters awarded former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich victory in their primary, with approximately 40 percent of the vote. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney finished second with 28 percent and Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, finished third with 17 percent.
As with all U.S. elections, the results are unofficial until certified by the South Carolina secretary of state. After the polls close, state officials must confirm that all ballots are legitimate and have been appropriately counted.
In very close contests, that process can change the initially announced outcome, as it did for the 2012 Iowa caucuses, where the final certified tally shifted victory to Santorum and away from Romney, the previously announced winner. The official count, released January 19, listed 29,839 votes for Santorum and 29,805 votes for Romney.
“If you think about it, it [the difference between first and second place] moved from eight votes to 34. Usually in an election, that kind of change is insignificant,” Santorum told reporters after the announcement. Romney, whose campaign gained momentum from his first-in-the-nation Iowa victory, told journalists the Iowa outcome remained “a virtual tie.”
In South Carolina, the election story on January 22 is the man who was nearly invisible in Iowa and New Hampshire. Some pundits credit Gingrich’s strong performances in the seemingly endless stream of Republican candidate debates — 17 so far with two more scheduled before the January 31 Florida primary — but Gingrich’s Southern roots (he was elected to the House from a district in Georgia) and high name recognition likely were factors as well.
Gingrich has a long history of improbable political comebacks, and his experience thus far in the 2012 presidential race illustrates his legendary resilience.
“Gingrich has been harder to kill than [Russian mystic] Rasputin,” Republican strategist Alex Castellanos told CNN viewers January 21, after most news outlets had projected a Gingrich victory. “He has been dead three times in this campaign, and ... the guy keeps coming back.”
In the days following the New Hampshire primary, the Republican field narrowed, as former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman dropped out (declaring his support for Romney) and Texas Governor Rick Perry departed shortly thereafter (throwing his backing to Gingrich). Ron Paul, a U.S. representative from Texas, remains in the race.
THE PALMETTO STATE
Nicknamed the Palmetto state for a tree species found throughout South Carolina, the state has a very different electorate from that in Iowa or New Hampshire.
African Americans make up 28 percent of the state’s population, compared to 13 percent of the United States overall, 3 percent in Iowa and 1 percent in New Hampshire, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
South Carolinians also have more reason to be worried about the economy than do the voters in the earlier contests. The unemployment rate in the Palmetto state for 2011 stood at 9.9 percent — well above the national average of 8.5 percent and much higher than Iowa’s 5.7 percent and New Hampshire’s 5.2 percent.
In addition, South Carolina has a large group of voters who identify themselves as evangelicals or “born-again” Christians, a group that tends to have very conservative social values. South Carolina also is home to many members of the “tea party,” a faction of the Republican Party dedicated to lowering taxes and reducing the role of government in everyday lives.
Attention now shifts to Florida’s January 31 primary, where Hispanic voters are expected to make their voice heard for the first time in the 2012 contests and where one of the most coveted Republican endorsements remains to be given. Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor who is son to one U.S. president and brother to another, has not said which candidate he is supporting.
