Newt Gingrich Wins South Carolina

Newt Gingrich has overcome Mitt Romney in South Carolina.

“Thank you South Carolina!” Gingrich tweeted as CBS News and other news outlets projected his victory.

Gingrich’s victory ends Romney’s hopes of effectively wrapping up the GOP presidential nomination by the end of the month – and breaths new life into Gingrich’s campaign ahead of the Florida primary on January 31. South Carolina has voted for the candidate who went on to with the GOP nomination in every primary since 1980.

Here’s the breakdown:

The exit poll data show Gingrich winning among white evangelicals, who made up 63 percent of the electorate. Gingrich also held a strong lead over Romney among men (41 percent to 28 percent), conservatives (43 percent to 26 percent) and Tea Party supporters (43 percent to 28 percent). Romney led narrowly among non-Tea Partiers and moderates.

Nearly half said the most important quality in a candidate is that he can beat President Obama in November; among this group, 49 percent supported Gingrich and 41 percent supported Romney.

Independents, a group that made up about one fourth of the electorate, split between Gingrich (31 percent), Paul (26 percent) and Romney (25 percent).

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.