Gingrich Wins South Carolina Primary - Fox News Loses

Bill Smith, Editor: With 100% of the precincts reported in the South Carolina primary, New Gingrich has won with 41% of the votes. The remaining totals: Romney 27%, Santorum 17%, Ron Paul 13%, and Herman Cain 1%. Gingrich responded to his victory by stating, "We proved here in South Carolina, people power, with the right ideas, beats money." He then addressed his actions to restore America after defeating Barack Obama.

Possibly the best summary of the results was offered by Rick Santorum, "Three states, three winners. What a great country." Santorum then went on to discuss his plans to restore America after defeating Barack Obama. Which permits us to consider that these first three primaries were not the normal type primaries that voters will be voting in in their states. Previous discussions have already addressed Iowa and New Hampshire. As for South Carolina, this GOP primary and the Democrat primary are not scheduled at the same time.  The Democrat primary will be on Jan. 26th.  Both are "open primaries." The voters in South Carolina don't register by party, and this Republican primary was open to all registered voter in South Carolina.  This means everyone including democrats, socialists, independents, green party types, etc. were able to vote in this primary.

Obviously this factor skewed the results as to who voted for whom and why. Yes, Newt Gingrich does have a resurrected campaign. But who gave it to him? Was it the votes that would be willing to stand with him in November, or those who would be voting for the incumbent in November?

As for the other candidates, Mitt Romney congratulated Gingrich but then went on to detail  his planned efforts to restore America after defeating Barack Obama. Romney is in no way cast down from being the most formidable top contender.  His campaign has already committed the resources to future primaries in other states with the intent to compete through the May's Super Tuesday elections. Also, Romney and Paul will be the only tow top tier candidates on the Virginia Republican primary ballot.

Ron Paul expressed his commitment to continuing his campign based on principle and his message even if he loses every primary. With proportional delegates, Paul understands that he can still be a factor at the Republican National Convention. Paul in remarks to his supporters identified his intent to restore America after defeating Barack Obama.

Obviously, the four Republicans are still "all in" and the eventual winner "will seek the defeat of Barack Obama and to reform America." The issue still remaining is who will the Republicans, as a whole, choose to be their champion to restore America.

Pix Via Reference Story
by Rainier Ehrhard

It was also noted that former U.S. Rick Santorum received the distinct honor of being identified as the conservative candidate most feared by the Occupy leftist supporters of President Obama. MSNBC reported this evening that "Members of Occupy Charleston "glitter-bombed" Rick Santorum at the tail end of his speech here at the Citadel"

As noted previously, a crucial issue in an open primary is "crossover" voting, which can contribute to the victory of a nominee closer to the center or radically further away. It most often involves members of Party Y (especially when Party Y's nominee is a foregone conclusion) voting for the Party X candidate whose views are the most reconcilable with their own or for the candidate that they believe is most vulnerable to problems and issues which will make them easier to defeat.

Regardless, the South Carolina open Republican primary is over. However, the broader efforts of the National Republican process is far from over. It appears that Republicans in different states do not like other states telling them whom to choose and are willing to send a message that the race is far from over as in prior years.

In conclusions, one of the biggest disappointments of the evening was the arrogance of  Fox News Network pundits declaring the projected winner immediately upon the closing of the polls. They did this before the last voter cast their vote within the polling places and long before the votes were counted and reported.  This action by the Fox News Network evidences an arrogant attitude and a disrespect for the voters  in South Carolina and for the Fox New's audience in general. Fox News failed to act with proper decorum and also relied on statistical exit polling to make an absolute declaration of victory. Maybe they would now like to declare the winner of the national elections.

Elections and the reporting of the voting results is not some type of American game show. Especially those  where declarations of winners are made before actual winners are determined by their actions verses the "reporters." Also, Fox News seemed to take great effort to trot out liberals and Democrat operatives to give their opinions about the Republican primary and to offer their opinions as to the conclusions that the public should draw from the results. Fox News is giving license to biased reporting which demeans its credibility.

Based on observation, not statistical guessing of election results, the trotting out of current or past Democrat operatives definitely creates apoplexy for conservatives listening to these Obama pundits spinning the results of Republican primary. Most disappointingly, barring Guvuto, Hannity, The O'Reilly Factor and Fox News Sunday, the remainder of Fox News Network is well on the way to becoming America's greatest source of tabloid journalism.

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