CHARLESTON, S.C. — The race for the Republican presidential
nomination has finally come down the Final Four, and the swift
reduction of the field helped make Thursday night’s debate here
arguably the most entertaining of the 17 televised debates during
this long campaign.
Yet the debate was in some sense anti-climactic, coming as
it did on the heels of so much drama elsewhere on the South
Carolina campaign trail. “The last 24 hours, I think, will go down
in primary history as probably one of the most tumultuous 24 hours
that we’ve seen,” former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum said after
the debate at the North Charleston Convention Center, televised on
CNN.
Thursday’s biggest developments in the campaign preceded
the debate by several hours. First, ABC News began releasing
excerpts of its interview with Newt Gingrich’s ex-wife, who claimed
that the former House Speaker had asked her to have an “open
marriage.” Next, officials in Iowa reported that the final count
from the Jan. 3 caucus showed that Santorum had beaten former
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney there. Then, Texas Gov. Rick Perry
called a press conference to announce that he was suspending his
campaign and endorsing Gingrich.
Perry was the second candidate to drop out of the race
this week, following Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman’s withdrawal Monday.
This winnowing of the Republican field in South Carolina, strangely
delayed after the usual proving grounds of Iowa and New Hampshire,
produced a quartet of candidates — Romney, Gingrich, Santorum, and
Texas Rep. Ron Paul — who mixed it up in a feisty battle that
began with a volatile exchange between Gingrich and CNN moderator
John King.
King asked if Gingrich would like to respond to the
accusations made by his ex-wife, Marianne. “No,” said Gingrich,
“but I will.” This produced cheers from the Republican audience,
and then Gingrich said: “I think the destructive,
vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder
to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for
public office. And I am appalled that you would begin a
presidential debate on a topic like that.… To take an ex-wife and
make it two days before the primary a significant question for a
presidential campaign is as close to despicable as anything I can
imagine.” Gingrich finished his mini-lecture by saying, “I am tired
of the elite media protecting Barack Obama by attacking
Republicans.” Less than 10 minutes after the CNN broadcast began,
Gingrich had already received two standing ovations.
Gingrich’s masterful debate performance, however, did not
change the fact that it was he — and not the “elite media” — who
divorced his second wife in order to marry Calista Bisek, a
congressional staffer 23 years his junior with whom he had been
having an affair during the same period when he led House
Republicans to impeach President Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky
scandal. The latest
Rasmussen Reports poll of South
Carolina Republicans showed that Gingrich had pulled ahead of
Romney prior to Thursday’s debate, and if his strong showing
enables Gingrich to win Saturday’s primary, it will put a serious
dent in Romney’s claim to be the “inevitable” GOP nominee.
Conservatives who have supported a series of “Not Mitt” candidates
in an attempt to prevent Romney’s nomination will have cause to
celebrate such a result.
However, a win here by Gingrich might jeopardize the
Palmetto State’s boast, “We pick presidents.” Since 1980, no
Republican has won his party’s presidential nomination without
winning the South Carolina primary, and Gingrich’s long-term
campaign prospects are problematic. Even in one of the most
conservative states in the country, Gingrich has struggled to close
the deal with GOP primary voters, and 30-something percent of the
vote here would scarcely be enough to make him an overwhelming
favorite for the nomination. The obstacles to Gingrich’s candidacy
involve more than Romney’s well-funded campaign and opposition by
the “elite media.” There is also the problem of Gingrich
himself.
It was Santorum who summarized this problem best after he
was asked by CNN’s King about a suggestion Gingrich made this week
that Santorum should quit the race and endorse Gingrich for the
good of the conservative cause. “Grandiosity has never
been a problem with Newt Gingrich, he handles it very well,”
Santorum said, pointing out that he had finished ahead of the
former speaker in both Iowa and New Hampshire. And he characterized
Gingrich’s style as a leader of House Republicans during Santorum’s
years in Congress: as “an idea a minute. No discipline, no ability
to be able to pull things together.” Gingrich is prone to
“worrisome” outbursts, Santorum said, contrasting this with his own
“steady” conservatism.
However valid that criticism might be, it appears that
conservatives in South Carolina are rallying behind Gingrich as the
best hope to halt Romney’s momentum and, if Romney loses here
Saturday, the battle between the GOP’s Final Four will continue on
to Florida, which holds its primary 10 days later. It may yet be a
while before the championship of this long presidential tournament
is decided.
