Republican front-runner Mitt Romney is showing signs of nervousness that a serious challenge may be developing from Newt Gingrich on the back of his strong debate performance on Monday.
Gingrich, amid hints that he may be enjoying a surge in support in South Carolina, maintained pressure on Romney over an issue that caused the former Massachusetts governor the most trouble in the debate, his tax payments.
Gingrich disclosed that, unlike Romney, who conceded he had paid only 15% in tax, he pays almost a third of his earnings to the federal government.
With a poll showing Gingrich closing the gap nationally with Romney, a Gingrich win in Saturday's South Carolina primary would wreck Romney's expectations of effectively wrapping up the Republican nomination by the end of the month. A Gingrich victory here would throw the race open.
"I think they will be unendingly dirty and dishonest for the next four days, because they're desperate," Gingrich said of the Romney campaign. "I think they have internal polls that show them losing."
A Rasmussen poll of likely voters, taken on Tuesday after the debate, shows a dramatic rebound nationally for Gingrich. It puts Romney at 30%, Gingrich 27%, Rick Santorum 15%, Ron Paul 13% and Rick Perry 4%. There has been no South Carolina poll since the debate.
Much could depend on a presidential debate in Charleston on Thursday night, the last before voters go to the polls. If Gingrich was to repeat his showing on Monday night, the result of the primary could be close.
Out to embarrass Romney on the eve of the debate, Gingrich has promised to release his tax details on Thursday.
Speaking to a small crowd on the campaign trail, he sought to exploit Romney's 15% tax rate, saying he paid 31%. "We are going to name our flat tax the Mitt Romney 15% flat tax," he said. "My goal is not to raise Mitt Romney's taxes, but to let everyone pay Romney's rate."
Gingrich received a boost from an unexpected source when Sarah Palin, who retains a residue of sentimental support among conservatives, said that if she was in South Carolina, she would vote for him. His campaign is using it as an ad.
In a sign of concern in the Romney camp, they put out two web ads on Wednesday, one describing Gingrich as "an unreliable leader" and the other accusing him of being "undisciplined". They also tapped, for a phone-in press conference, former Missouri senator Jim Talent and former Congresswoman Susan Molinari to reinforce the portrait of Gingrich as combustible.
On the campaign trail, Romney focused on Gingrich, hammering home the "unreliable leader" line.
If Gingrich was to secure a win in South Carolina, he could make life extremely difficult for Romney. Although Romney has a huge organisation in place in Florida and millions at the ready for an ad blitz on top of the $2m he has already spent in the state, Gingrich stands to gain support if, as expected, Texas governor Rick Perry, quits after South Carolina.
Another plus for Gingrich could be the decision of Texas Congressman Paul not to campaign in Florida.
If Gingrich could persuade Santorum to drop out, though Santorum insists he will not, he could see a powerful right-wing bloc rally behind him.
Gingrich had been scheduled to hold a press conference around noon on the steps of the state capitol building in Columbia, a dramatic backdrop. But, with a large press pack waiting for him, including the national television networks, he failed to show.
His campaign team may have decided it was too risky, that he might make a gaffe that would shift political momentum back to Romney.
It was an emotive choice of location anyway, only feet away from a Confederate flag, a symbol of hate for many of the state's 25% African-Americans and a controversial issue in the 2000 Republican election campaign. The eventual compromise was to move it to the front lawn.
Reflecting the dilemma facing conservatives in South Carolina, torn over who to back, Katherine Ellstrom, 65, from Lexington, South Carolina, who had been waiting in hopes of listening in to the Gingrich press conference, said she was undecided. Her heart was for Santorum but she might go for Gingrich.
"I think Sarah Palin is a practical person and sees that Santorum can't pull this off and we need to coalesce around one person who will have a chance as an alternative to Romney," she said. "I accept that logic."
Gingrich has appealed over the last 48 hours for either Perry or Santorum, preferably both, to quit the race to allow conservatives to unite behind him. He has made no such appeal to Paul, who seems intent on fighting every state gathering a share of the vote and delegates to take to the party convention in Tampa, Florida, in August.
Gingrich said: "I am trying to get every conservative voter in this state to decide, while they may like somebody else, that historically we need to get the vote for Gingrich."
Santorum dismissed this as arrogant.
Santorum also jumped on Romney over the tax issue, in particular claiming he was out of touch with ordinary Americans for saying he did not make "very much" in public speaking last year, only $370,000.
"The thing that is a difference … is to make a statement that 'I made a couple of extra bucks giving speeches', when that couple extra bucks is over $300,000," Santorum said. "I mean, that to me, says a little bit more about governor Romney and his connection with the American people than his tax rate, which is driven by a tax code."
"To refer to 300 and some thousand dollars as a few extra bucks, to me is – $300,000 isn't a few extra bucks to me," he said.
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