Romney Loses to Gingrich in South Carolina

In South Carolina, the third U.S. state to hold a vote for Republican presidential candidate, Newt Gingrich took 41% of the vote to Romney’s 27%.  Rick Santorum had 17 percent of the vote and Ron Paul  had 13 percent. Romney is still projected to come out ahead in number of delegates to the upcoming Republican convention.  Still, Gingrich garnered 23 delegates from South Carolina to Romney’s two.  Some had predicted that if Romney took South Carolina, the primaries would be all but over, and he would be the shoe-in candidate for the presidency.  Ginrich’s South Carolina triumph extends the race, possibly for months.

Two reasons for the victory posed by the press are Romney’s moderate leanings and his Mormon faith.

Since the 1980 election, every Republican candidate who won the South Carolina primary has gone on to capture the party nomination.