COLUMBIA, SC, Jan 22 (Reuters) Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich trounced frontrunner Mitt Romney in South Carolina in a jarring victory that indicates the party’s battle to pick a challenger to President Barack Obama may last months, not weeks.
Gingrich’s come-from-behind triumph in the primary in the conservative southern state injects unexpected volatility into a Republican nominating race that until this week appeared to be a coronation for Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and private-equity chief.
Instead, voters in South Carolina yesterday rejected Romney’s pitch that he is the best bet to fix a broken US economy and defeat Obama, a Democrat, in the November. 6 election.
Three different candidates – Gingrich, Romney and former US senator Rick Santorum – now have won the first three contests in the state-by-state battle for the Republican presidential nomination to face Obama.
Gingrich’s triumph may lead to a protracted battle of attrition as Republican candidates spend millions of dollars to tear each other down rather than uniting behind a standardbearer to take back the White House.
With nearly all the votes counted, Gingrich had pulled in 40 per cent of the vote, followed by Romney with 28 per cent, networks reported. (Agencies)