A MITT Romney victory in tomorrow’s South Carolina primary is now looking less than certain.
Texas governor Rick Perry asked supporters to vote for Mr Romney’s rival, Newt Gingrich, when he withdrew from the race yesterday.
“I have no question that Newt Gingrich has the heart of a conservative reformer . . . the courage to tell those Washington interests to take a hike if that’s what’s in the best interest of our country,” Mr Perry told a press conference here.
Mr Perry’s campaign failed because of poor debate performances. In his famous “oops moment” he could not remember which government departments he wanted to dismantle.
In another element of uncertainty, the former pizza magnate and failed presidential hopeful Herman Cain was expected to endorse a candidate – possibly Mr Gingrich – in a speech to the Southern Republican Leadership Conference late yesterday.
Some opinion polls indicate Mr Gingrich, who is from neighbouring Georgia and who appeals to South Carolina’s Tea Partiers and evangelical Christians, is eroding Mr Romney’s support.
A CNN poll on Wednesday gave Mr Romney a 10-point advantage over Mr Gingrich in South Carolina. But an Insider Advantage poll publicised by the Gingrich campaign placed Mr Gingrich in the lead, at 32 per cent to Mr Romney’s 29 per cent.
Mr Romney’s victory in the January 3rd Iowa caucus evaporated when officials there announced the result could not be determined because ballots from eight precincts were lost.
Last night’s televised debate was the last big test of the primary campaign. Workers removed the fifth podium, which was to have been Mr Perry’s. Only four hopefuls remain: Messrs Romney and Gingrich, the former senator Rick Santorum and Texas Congressman Ron Paul.
Mr Gingrich is a fierce debater, who won the only standing ovation in the previous debate on Monday for saying he didn’t care about “political correctness” when an African-American journalist implied that Gingrich’s condemnation of President Obama as a “food stamp president” was racist.
Sarah Palin, the 2008 vice-presidential candidate, said she would vote for Mr Gingrich if she lived in South Carolina. Mr Gingrich told CNN he would “ask her to consider taking a major role in the next administration if I’m president”.
But Michele Bachmann, who dropped out of the race after finishing last in Iowa, said Mr Gingrich “lacks the poise, experience and moral fibre to represent our principles and values”.
Mr Gingrich’s ex-wife Marianne may be the biggest threat to him in conservative South Carolina. Ms Gingrich boasted last year she could destroy the former House speaker’s career. ABC News was to broadcast an interview with her last night, after the Charleston debate.
In an excerpt released, Ms Gingrich said her ex-husband asked for an “open marriage” on informing her of his affair with Callista Bisek, the congressional aide who became his third wife. “I said to him, ‘We’ve been married a long time. And he said, ‘Yes, but you want me all to yourself. Callista doesn’t care what I do’.”
Mr Romney held a rally in a parking lot outside his campaign headquarters in the middle class suburb of West Ashley. Doris Marion, 81, a retired school teacher, said the main reason she supported Mr Romney was “because he’s clearing all these illegal immigrants out of this country, so Americans can have their jobs back.”
Ms Marion defined her priorities as “God first; country second; friends and family third.” She said those who hire illegal immigrants are “not good Americans” who had “made money their God”.
Her ancestor, the “Swamp Fox” Francis Marion, who fought the British in the revolutionary war, “would rise up in his grave” if he saw what they were doing.
“Four years ago, it was ‘Obama, Obama, Obama’,” said Liz Coward, 45, a marketing officer at the bank next door to the Romney office. “Everybody was brainwashed. Now it’s just ‘Who’s gonna beat Obama?’ This is the guy to do it.”
Mr Romney’s campaign bus, emblazoned with the words “Conservative Businessman Leader”, served as the backdrop to his stage. As usual with Mr Romney, the warm-up act outshone the candidate. “Get excited!” Governor Nikki Haley ordered the small crowd of 200. “Mitt Romney has nothing to do with the chaos in Washington . . . Wouldn’t it be nice to finish this here in South Carolina?” she said.
South Carolina is home to numerous military bases. “A few minutes ago, we heard the sound of freedom,” Mr Romney said, referring to an overflight by a C17 transport aircraft from nearby Charleston Air Force base.
Mr Romney accused President Obama of fighting job creation, because his National Labour Relations Board held up installation of a local Boeing factory in a scrap over union rights, and because he vetoed the Keystone gas pipeline on Wednesday.
“The president is in Florida, at DisneyWorld, today,” Mr Romney said. “He’s giving a speech in Fantasyland. He’s telling what a great job he’s doing on the economy. Has he not been out here? Has he not seen the 9.9 per cent unemployment? People coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan not finding work?” It was “time to send [Mr Obama] back to Disneyland,” Mr Romney said. “He may bump into Speaker Gingrich there.”
South Carolina has a flamboyance lacking in Iowa and New Hampshire. “Now look at that hat and jacket!” Mr Romney pointed to a woman in the audience who wore an extravagant hat with shooting stars and red, white and blue flag attached. “Now that woman is a Republican!” he exclaimed. “I’m president of the Charleston Republican Women’s Club!” Belinda Roberts, 58, said proudly.