Newt Gingrich's fluent, policy-rich performances in the early debates, laced with derision for the media's attempts to question the Republican candidates, propelled him to the front of the GOP pack in early December.
His command of the stage here in Myrtle Beach for the 16th (yep, there have been that many, and the next is in Charleston on Thursday) could just be the lifeline he needs to achieve the task he has set himself - overcoming Mitt Romney's clear lead in the South Carolina polls to win the state on Saturday.
Romney was under pressure over releasing his tax returns (he eventually said that he would "probably" do so in April), on why he had not objected as Massachusetts governor to felons on parole having the right to vote and he gave an awkward, fumbling response to a softball about whether he had been hunting since 2007, even mixing up moose and elk.
Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich tussle in the Myrtle Beach debate. Photo: The State newspaper.
His strategy seems to be to run out the lock with his answers often sounding like a filibuster. Team Romney believes there have been far too many debate. Romney has been very strong in most of them and they want them curtailed now that he's ahead. "There's been a lot of them," said Romney aide Eric Fehrnstrom afterwards, adding that they had degenerated into "bash Mitt exercises".
He said: "When Mitt Romney can come out of that type of environment unscathed it's a big victory for him...their game plan was to attack Mitt and keep attacking him until he's beaten and blooodied on the floor and at that they failed."
With a South Carolina win all but guaranteeing Romney the nomination, a safety-first strategy is understandable. And while this was a poor night for Romney there were no disastrous moments for him on excerpts that sum up his weaknesses like the "Oops" debacle that did for Rick Perry.
Gingrich, however, with Rick Santorum as his wing man, scored quite a few points against Romney and the former Speaker's fluency with policy and ability to dissect questions and make a big-picture conservative case against Obama made him the night's big winner.
Perhaps most significant was Gingrich's victory in what his spokesman R.C.Hammond termed the "primary within a primary" between him and Santorum. This debate gave Gingrich the chance int he next few days to emerge as the consensus conservative in South Carolina. If the conservative vote remains split, then Romney wins.
There were two standing ovations for Gingrich in the hall, where 3,000 Republicans roared, cheered and booed (including when it was mentioned that Romney's father was born in Mexico) and he was so pleased with his performance that he came into the press spin room to discuss it afterwards.
He told me that he felt the most important single moment was his exchange with Juan Williams, a black, liberal-leaning Fox News commentator, who accused him of racical insensitivity for calling President Barack Obama "the food stamp president".
The crowd rose up when he responded: "Well, first of all, Juan, the fact is that more people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any president in American history. Now, I know among the politically correct you're not supposed to use facts that are uncomfortable."
Newt Gingrich addresses a South Carolina Tea Party gathering in Myrtle Beach. Photo: Toby Harnden.
Gingrich said that in the debate room "there was a strong sense that somebody finally just had the courage to tell the truth about how we've got to go about helping people".
He added: "Every conservative should realise that South Carolina is the right place to make sure that a conservative is the nominee and it's clear if you look at the polls the only conservative who can beat Romney in South Carolina is Newt Gingrich... we have five days to win South Carolina. I think we will win South Cariolina."
Fehrnstrom said of Gingrich: "You've got to love his optimism."
Debates rarely change the trajectory of a race or a candidacy and it could be that Gingrich's performance in Myrtle Beach won't change the minds of many voters. But he made the same case he made earlier in the day at a South Carolina Tea Party event - that Romney would be a weak, unvetted nominee against Obama.
A lot of conservatives are queasy about Romney and unconvinced that he could beat the President in November.
If Gingrich continues in this vein and Romney stumbles again in Charleston on Thursday, he just might persuade enough voters in South Carolina at least that he really is a viable conservative alternative.
His command of the stage here in Myrtle Beach for the 16th (yep, there have been that many, and the next is in Charleston on Thursday) could just be the lifeline he needs to achieve the task he has set himself - overcoming Mitt Romney's clear lead in the South Carolina polls to win the state on Saturday.
Romney was under pressure over releasing his tax returns (he eventually said that he would "probably" do so in April), on why he had not objected as Massachusetts governor to felons on parole having the right to vote and he gave an awkward, fumbling response to a softball about whether he had been hunting since 2007, even mixing up moose and elk.
Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich tussle in the Myrtle Beach debate. Photo: The State newspaper.
His strategy seems to be to run out the lock with his answers often sounding like a filibuster. Team Romney believes there have been far too many debate. Romney has been very strong in most of them and they want them curtailed now that he's ahead. "There's been a lot of them," said Romney aide Eric Fehrnstrom afterwards, adding that they had degenerated into "bash Mitt exercises".
He said: "When Mitt Romney can come out of that type of environment unscathed it's a big victory for him...their game plan was to attack Mitt and keep attacking him until he's beaten and blooodied on the floor and at that they failed."
With a South Carolina win all but guaranteeing Romney the nomination, a safety-first strategy is understandable. And while this was a poor night for Romney there were no disastrous moments for him on excerpts that sum up his weaknesses like the "Oops" debacle that did for Rick Perry.
Gingrich, however, with Rick Santorum as his wing man, scored quite a few points against Romney and the former Speaker's fluency with policy and ability to dissect questions and make a big-picture conservative case against Obama made him the night's big winner.
Perhaps most significant was Gingrich's victory in what his spokesman R.C.Hammond termed the "primary within a primary" between him and Santorum. This debate gave Gingrich the chance int he next few days to emerge as the consensus conservative in South Carolina. If the conservative vote remains split, then Romney wins.
There were two standing ovations for Gingrich in the hall, where 3,000 Republicans roared, cheered and booed (including when it was mentioned that Romney's father was born in Mexico) and he was so pleased with his performance that he came into the press spin room to discuss it afterwards.
He told me that he felt the most important single moment was his exchange with Juan Williams, a black, liberal-leaning Fox News commentator, who accused him of racical insensitivity for calling President Barack Obama "the food stamp president".
The crowd rose up when he responded: "Well, first of all, Juan, the fact is that more people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any president in American history. Now, I know among the politically correct you're not supposed to use facts that are uncomfortable."
Newt Gingrich addresses a South Carolina Tea Party gathering in Myrtle Beach. Photo: Toby Harnden.
Gingrich said that in the debate room "there was a strong sense that somebody finally just had the courage to tell the truth about how we've got to go about helping people".
He added: "Every conservative should realise that South Carolina is the right place to make sure that a conservative is the nominee and it's clear if you look at the polls the only conservative who can beat Romney in South Carolina is Newt Gingrich... we have five days to win South Carolina. I think we will win South Cariolina."
Fehrnstrom said of Gingrich: "You've got to love his optimism."
Debates rarely change the trajectory of a race or a candidacy and it could be that Gingrich's performance in Myrtle Beach won't change the minds of many voters. But he made the same case he made earlier in the day at a South Carolina Tea Party event - that Romney would be a weak, unvetted nominee against Obama.
A lot of conservatives are queasy about Romney and unconvinced that he could beat the President in November.
If Gingrich continues in this vein and Romney stumbles again in Charleston on Thursday, he just might persuade enough voters in South Carolina at least that he really is a viable conservative alternative.
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