NEWS - ROMNEY LEADS IN SC AS SANTORUM, GINGRICH FIGHTS FOR SECOND

unreal! in a state thats LARGELY Southern Baptist! its increadable to me that Romney, a MORMON (like me) is in the lead! GO ROMNEY!
MICHELLE
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Romney leads in S.C. as Santorum, Gingrich fight for second

By ADAM BEAM

Three polls out Friday morning show Gov. Mitt Romney leading in South Carolina as Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich fight for second place.
Romney’s support ranges from 27 percent according to a new poll from Rasmussen, 31 percent according to a poll from American Research Group to 37 percent according to a poll from CNN/TIME/ORC.
“We are under no illusions about the challenges facing us in the state – just four years ago Mitt Romney finished fourth in the South Carolina primary,” said Amanda Henneberg, a spokeswoman for the Romney campaign. “But in the closing weeks, we will continue to reach out to voters and make the case that Mitt Romney is the best candidate to beat Barack Obama, and that he is the best choice to grow the economy, cut spending, and create jobs.”

Rasmussen says Santorum is a solid second with 24 percent, while Gingrich is third with 18 percent. But American Research Group shows Gingrich and Santorum tied at 24 percent, while CNN/TIME/ORC shows Santorum at 19 percent and Gingrich at 18 percent.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who canceled three days worth of scheduled events this week in South Carolina following his poor showing in Tuesday’s Iowa caucuses, is at 5 percent in two of the polls and 2 percent in American Research Group.
It is a remarkable surge for Santorum, who two months ago was polling at 1 percent in South Carolina. But his strong showing in Tuesday’s Iowa caucus, where he finished second by eight votes, has vaulted him to the front.
In New Hampshire, whose primary is Tuesday, Romney still has a commanding lead with 40 percent. But Santorum has jumped into third place with 11 percent, the only candidate moving up in that race, according to a daily tracking poll from Suffolk University.
Nationally, Romney leads with 29 percent, followed by Santorum at 21 percent, according to Rasmussen.
Rasmussen polled 750 likely S.C. Republican primary voters on Thursday with a margin of error of 4 percent.
American Research Group polled 600 likely S.C. primary voters on Wednesday and Thursday. A margin of error was not available.
CNN/TIME/ORC polled 1,519 adults, including 485 likely voters, Wednesday and Thursday and has a margin of error of 4.5 percent.
The Rasmussen poll found nearly half (48 percent) of S.C.’s likely primary voters could still change their minds. Forty-one percent of likely primary voters say they will not change their minds.
Paul has the most consistent base, with 62 percent of his supporters saying they will vote for him, while 51 percent of Perry’s backers say they aren’t going anywhere and 50 percent of Romney’s supporters say they will vote for him.
But just 43 percent of Santorum’s supporters say they will not change their minds, while 36 percent of Gingrich’s supporters say they have decided.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/2012/01/06/2103445/romney-leads-in-sc-but-santorum.html#storylink=Afternoon%20Newsletter#storylink=cpy

NEWS - HUNTSMAN TRIES TO SHED 'MODERATE' LABEL

Friday, Nov. 04, 2011

Elections 2012

Huntsman tries to shed ‘moderate’ label

 

By GINA SMITH

Jon Huntsman’s S.C. advisers are pushing back on the “moderate” label that has dogged the former Utah governor in his candidacy for the Republican nomination for president.
“We have a story to tell about Huntsman that hasn’t been told yet,” Richard Quinn, a S.C. adviser to Huntsman, said Thursday as Huntsman shook hands and ate barbeque at a Columbia restaurant.
The Columbia stop marked the second day of a three-day swing by Huntsman through South Carolina, an important early-voting state that holds its GOP primary on Jan. 21.

S.C. politicos increasingly agree the S.C. race will come down to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who consistently has finished in the top two in S.C. polls, and a “non-Romney” candidate, likely to be someone further to the political right of Romney.
That means a new narrative is needed for Huntsman who, rightly or wrongly, has been labeled as a moderate by many S.C. voters because of his stint as U.S. ambassador to China under President Barack Obama, his support for same-sex civil unions and his belief in global warming.
For example, Republican Gov. Nikki Haley has singled Huntsman out as a candidate that she would not endorse, saying he was not a “strong conservative.”
Huntsman has not broken out of the low single digits in any S.C. poll.
“He got branded early as a moderate,” said Quinn, who helped Republican nominee John McCain win the state’s primary in 2008. “A lot of that has to do with Obama. Obama tried to destroy him with hugs and kisses. ... The other candidates caught on and have chimed in too.”
Huntsman stopped short of denying the moderate label during his Columbia visit Thursday. Instead, he called himself a “mainstream conservative,” pointing to his pro-life record, support of the Second Amendment and passage of a school voucher bill while he was Utah governor as proof of his conservative credentials.
“People will find out themselves that I have a conservative governing record,” Huntsman said. “You can’t just throw a moderate tag out when you’ve been elected twice in a state of Utah. ... That is a very conservative state.”

NEWS - HUNTSMAN ENTERS SOUTH CAROLINA GOP CONTEST

Thursday, Jun. 23, 2011

Huntsman enters S.C. GOP contest

By JOHN O’CONNOR 

A day after asking U.S. voters to give his record a long look, former U.S. ambassador to China and Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman officially entered the 2012 S.C. Republican presidential primary race Wednesday.
Huntsman, 51, pitched his business experience with his family’s chemical company, noted his foreign policy credentials and argued Utah led the country in economic growth during his time as governor.
He toured a Columbia grill manufacturer before heading to S.C. GOP headquarters to drop off his $35,000 filing fee and sign filing documents. He was accompanied by his wife, Mary Kaye, and four of their seven children.

“Tune into to what we’ve done as governor and who we are as people,” Huntsman told several dozen party activists, touting high-tech jobs, and his experience balancing Utah’s state budget and beefing up its reserve funds. “Some people run away from their record.”
Huntsman said it was “unacceptable” and “un-American” that the United States is less productive and less competitive than it used to be.
He enters a crowded Republican field – six candidates officially have filed in South Carolina – that could grow more crowded. Polls show Huntsman is largely unknown among voters, and that a significant portion of those who know him react unfavorably to the former governor.
Huntsman’s Wednesday appearance used the same location that former S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster used to announced his 2009 Republican gubernatorial campaign. McMaster’s consultant, Richard Quinn, is working for Huntsman, and the two candidates share much of the same message and imagery: statesman-like experience; a focus on economic development; and allegiance to the optimism of former President Ronald Reagan.
McMaster finished third in the 2010 S.C. GOP primary. How will Huntsman succeed where McMaster failed?
“The voters agreed with that message,” said McMaster, who traveled with Huntsman on Wednesday. “They chose another candidate. He clearly is uniquely qualified, uniquely experienced among all the very fine candidates, and I think the people of South Carolina will like him.”
Huntsman began trying to make those connections Wednesday, touching a key S.C. political issue by calling on President Barack Obama — Huntsman’s former boss when he was ambassador to China — to step into and oppose the National Labor Relations Board complaint against Boeing’s opening of a plant in North Charleston. The agency contends Boeing started the plant to escape unionized workers in Washington state.
S.C. Democrats painted Huntsman as a political moderate, which could spell trouble in a state highly influenced by the conservative Tea Party movement.
Huntsman’s faith also could be problematic in South Carolina. Like Mitt Romney, who finished fourth in the 2008 S.C. Republican presidential primary, Huntsman was raised a Mormon, a faith that has roused suspicion among evangelical Republican voters in the Palmetto State.
Huntsman said Wednesday that he is a Christian, adding spirituality is important. “I believe in God. … I’m very proud of my Mormon roots.”
Also Wednesday, the Washington, D.C.,-based Club for Growth released its assessment of Huntsman — complimenting his tax-cutting and tax-reform record but critical of his record in limiting budget growth. South Carolina has an active Club for Growth chapter, and much of its leadership loaned their support to the candidacies of Gov. Nikki Haley and former Gov. Mark Sanford.
“In the end, it is Gov. Huntsman’s spending record that is inexcusable,” the Club for Growth report concluded. “There is now widespread recognition that the next President must address the enormous threat posed by federal spending that threatens national bankruptcy. Huntsman’s failing grades on controlling state spending raise serious questions about whether he would be equal to that task.”
“If you do the math,” Huntsman said in response,” you’ll find the percentage of spending that went toward government actually decreased.”

NEWS - ROMNEY LEADS IN SOUTH CAROLINA -POLL SAYS

Wednesday, Jun. 08, 2011

Romney leads in S.C., poll says

Palin, who has not said whether she will run, in second place

By GINA SMITH

A new poll affirms former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as South Carolina’s early favorite for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
North Carolina-based Public Policy Polling quizzed 1,000 South Carolinians who usually vote in GOP primaries and found Romney leading with 27 percent support. The poll’s margin of error is 3.1 percent.
Romney, who also ran for president in 2008, also is in first place in three other early-voting Republican contests – in New Hampshire, Nevada and Iowa, according to polls by Public Policy, which made its reputation polling for Democratic candidates.

But Larry Sabato, politics professor and director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics, expects Romney to lose his S.C. lead, in part because of his Mormon faith.
“You have to combine a poll with the political reality of a state,” Sabato said. “There’s a reason why (Romney) does so well in New Hampshire, because he was governor nearby in Massachusetts. They know him.
“There’s a reason he’s doing well in Nevada. There are lots of Mormons there.
“But (Christian) fundamentalists are about 60 percent of the Republican base in both South Carolina and Iowa, and they have a problem with Mormons. These are small leads (in South Carolina and Iowa), and we know for sure that Romney has problems in both states. We know that from 2008, and not that much has changed.”
During his 2008 run, Romney spent millions in South Carolina only to finish a disappointing fourth.
That showing has led to widespread speculation that Romney will not campaign much in South Carolina this year as he seeks the GOP nomination. Still, Romney was briefly in the state last month to meet with a group in Irmo to discuss the economy.
According to the poll, Romney’s strongest following is among South Carolinians who say they are moderate Republicans. He received 41 percent of that group’s support to Sarah Palin’s 15 percent.
The poll also found Palin is South Carolina’s second-favorite Republican. The former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate, who has not said whether she will run in 2012, garnered the support of 18 percent of those surveyed.
Both Romney and Palin have close ties to S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley. Romney’s political action committees were heavy contributors to Haley’s 2011 campaign. Palin appeared in Columbia to endorse Haley before the GOP primary.
Former chief executive of Godfather’s Pizza Herman Cain and former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, both of bordering Georgia, were tied at 12 percent each in the poll.
The remainder of the field polled in the single digits: U.S. Rep. Michele Bachman of Minnesota at 9 percent, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas at 7 percent, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty at 4 percent and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who was U.S. ambassador to China under President Barack Obama, at 2 percent.
Joel Sawyer, Huntsman’s S.C. director, said his candidate’s low showing is because so few South Carolinians know him.
“The poll results are largely a function of name ID,” Sawyer said. “Gov. Huntsman has been in the state one time. He’s been exploring the idea of running for president for less than a month.”
Sawyer added if Huntsman decides later this month to run, S.C. voters can expect to see him frequently.

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thats serisouly very difficult for me to recon with, as SC is largely a baptist state, sitting in the middle of the "bible belt". and for the most part Baptists have had issues with the doctrines of The Church of Jesus CHrist of Latter-Day Saints.
very hard for me to see that ROmney would be ahead in the polls there.
perhaps, hes the "lesser, of two evils" lol
MICHELLE

NEWS - ROMNEY TO CAMPAIN IN SC TODAY

Saturday, May. 21, 2011
Romney to campaign in S.C. today
By GINA SMITH

Likely GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney is in South Carolina today, meeting with a small group of business owners.

“It’s a chance for him to hear from real people about the economy and how it’s affecting them,” said state Rep. Nathan Ballentine, R-Lexington, who set up Romney’s one-stop visit to Meetze Plumbing in Irmo to speak with up to 20 business owners.

Gov. Nikki Haley, who endorsed Romney in the 2008 GOP presidential race, will not attend the event because her schedule does not match up, said Rob Godfrey, Haley’s spokesman. The two did speak on the phone Friday, he added.

“They were just touching base,” Godfrey said. “The governor told Governor Romney she was sorry they couldn’t catch up this time, and he let her know that he’d be back often.”

Haley, who received nearly $59,000 from Romney’s political action committee in her run for governor last year, has said she will endorse a GOP candidate for president but has not done so yet.

Meanwhile on the state’s airwaves, a Democratic group is blasting Romney in the first ad of the 2012 campaign cycle, on the issue of health care.

The TV and Internet ad, airing this weekend across the state, also notes another Republican presidential candidate, Newt Gingrich, who recently criticized a GOP plan to convert the federally funded Medicare and Medicaid programs into block grants

Romney spokesman Andrea Saul said the ad – sponsored by a group of former members of President Barack Obama’s campaign team and former S.C. Gov. Jim Hodges – is a “desperate” attempt to change the conversation.

“With 9.6 percent unemployment in South Carolina, voters are looking for a jobs plan not a smear campaign,” Saul said.

Today’s visit marks the former Massachusett governor’s first visit to South Carolina this election cycle, considered a frontrunner for the GOP nomination.

Romney finished fourth in the state’s 2008 GOP presidential primary. That weak showing led to speculation that Romney will all but skip South Carolina despite its prestigious first-in-the-South primary. He, along with several other high-profile candidates, sat out a presidential debate in Greenville earlier this month.

However, more recent polling shows more promise. An April poll of likely S.C. Republican voters put Romney is second place behind former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who since has said he won’t run.

Asked about campaigning in South Carolina, Saul said, “Governor Romney will be campaigning in South Carolina, as he will other states.”

Ballentine, a Haley ally who also endorsed Romney in 2008, doubts Romney will skip South Carolina. “He’s smart enough to know he has to spend time here.”
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im sorry i missed seeing him in my old home turf. i voted for him (only vote ive ever cast) here, in Oklahoma. but he didnt win.
when he lost, there was a ton of speculation hed run in 2011. i didnt think he would, but im not surprised he is.
im not so sure the world is ready for a MORMON in office, altho allot of the congress personell happen to be , in fact, LDS...
the world thinks we want them all to be like us..we dont, we want you to decide on your own if you want to be among us.
but thats a personal choice.
an we cant change that.

i dont see what the big deal about ROMNEY even being a president is. everytime anyone relishes on the fact they like someone from the past as far any president goes, they always site a conservative president.
so, ROMNEYS pretty conservative, if he holds true to his mormon ways.

hes not the ONLY member of the faith running. i hear theres another contender.
maybe hell squeeze in there. i havnt heard about him much, i do know that glen beck says hes the next president. we shall see glen, we shall see.

MICHELLE