FLORENCE, S.C. — On the morning after a bellicose debate performance that had the audience leaping to its feet, Newt Gingrich got this challenge from a retired Marine officer who had come to hear him speak at an art gallery here.
“What I’ve been looking for in my candidate is, we’ve got to bloody Obama’s nose,” Vence Jelovchan said.
Republican presidential contender Newt Gingrich takes a shot at opponent Mitt Romney, saying he is re-naming his flat tax the 'Mitt Romney 15 percent flat tax.' This comes after it was revealed that Romney pays about a 15 percent tax rate. (Jan. 18)
A look at how the 2012 Republican candidates for president differ on key issues.
“I don’t want to bloody his nose,” the former House speaker replied. “I want to knock him out.”
There is much on the line for Gingrich in South Carolina. Saturday’s GOP primary could spell the end of his presidential hopes — and with them, a political career that has helped shape Republican politics for more than three decades.
So, with the stakes that high, Gingrich has returned to his roots.
To hear him these days on the stump is to recall the back-bencher he once was in the House of Representatives, when he first emerged as the anti-establishment warrior of late-night C-SPAN. As he did then, Gingrich swings vigorously at the welfare state, political correctness, liberal orthodoxy and whatever opponent is standing in his way.
It seems to be working. Since the debate Monday night, his crowds have been growing, as has their enthusiasm. Tea party icon and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin has said she would vote for him if she lived in South Carolina, and talk radio is abuzz. And another debate is scheduled for Thursday night.
Everywhere he goes, conservatives appear to be remembering what it was they liked about Gingrich in the first place.
While former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney remains in the lead here, a Time-CNN poll — conducted largely before what Gingrich described as “the best debate I’ve had this year” on Monday night — indicated that Gingrich is closing the gap.
In less than two weeks, the margin between the two in South Carolina has shrunk by almost half, to 10 points.
“I’m back,” Gingrich exulted Wednesday in an interview.
Still, a Gingrich upset here remains a tall order for a candidate who did not place better than fourth in either of the previous contests, in Iowa and New Hampshire.
A win would also represent a repudiation of South Carolina’s reputation as a killing field for political insurgents. In every GOP primary race since the state took its prominent place on the campaign calendar 32 years ago, South Carolina has voted for the establishment favorite and sent him on his way to the nomination.
This year, that would be Romney, who in addition to having superior resources and organization has benefited from the fact that the conservative vote opposing his candidacy has been splintered among Gingrich, former senator Rick Santorum (Pa.) and Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Meanwhile, Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) maintains a loyal and energetic libertarian following.
In the few days that remain, “We have to finish getting votes away from Santorum and Perry, and we have to erode Romney a little more,” Gingrich said. “I think we can do it.”
And how will he do it?
“You do it by the debates,” he said.
His, however, has been a campaign that has taken on many personalities and has had more than its share of ups and downs. It all but collapsed shortly after it began last summer.
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