With only hours before votes begin to be counted, a major shift has taken place in South Carolina within the last week. Romneys large lead has faded, and Gingrich has risen to the top with two strong debate outings. The unfair attacks on Romney for his taxes (no other candidate has ever been asked to release all of their taxes this early. Paul and Santorum have not released thiers, yet are not getting the same treatment) have strongly damaged him. Romneys pure inability to counter attack the liberal minded claims coming from his Republican rivals have greatly hurt his campaign. With that said, this should serve as a turning point in the campaign making this a two man race between Romney and Gingrich heading into Florida, a state where Romney currently leads by double digits. Here are tonights predictions.
1st-Gingrich
2nd-Romney
3rd-Ron Paul
4th-Rick Santorum
It must be stated that if under some circumstance Romney were to win South Carolina, he would have the nomination in the bag going forward. This is a must win for Gingrich. Best case for him would be a win by more than 8% and getting more than 37% of the vote. Romneys campaign has set a target of 33-34%. If they reach that than they met expectations set by the media and shouldn't lose too much ground heading into Florida. If Romney fails to get more than 30%, he will be forced to deal with a Gingrich bounce in Florida. However, expect a suprise in the days leading up to the contest. An endorsment by Conservative Florida Senator darling Marco Rubio for Mitt Romney.
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