Gingrich Tops Romney in SC Primary, Santorum Third, Paul Fourth

(The Blaze/AP) -- Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich stormed to an upset win in the South Carolina primary Saturday night, dealing a sharp setback to former front-runner Mitt Romney and suddenly scrambling the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

"Thank you, South Carolina!" a jubilant Gingrich swiftly tweeted to his supporters. He appealed for a flood or donations for the next-up Jan. 31 primary. "Help me deliver the knockout punch in Florida. Join our Moneybomb and donate now," said his tweet.

Romney was unbowed. He vowed to contest for every vote in every state and unleashed a double-barreled attack on President Barack Obama and Gingrich simultaneously.

Referring to criticism of his business experience, Romney said, "When my opponents attack success and free enterprise, they're not only attacking me, they're attacking every person who dreams of a better future. He's attacking you," he told supporters, the closest he came to mentioning the night's primary winner's name.

Already, Romney and a group that supports him were on the air in Florida with a significant television ad campaign, more than $7 million combined to date. Aides to the former Massachusetts governor had once dared hope that Florida would seal his nomination - if South Carolina didn't first - but that strategy appeared to vanish along with the once-formidable lead he held in pre-primary polls.

Returns from 30 percent of the state's precincts showed Gingrich gaining 41 percent of the vote, to 26 percent for Romney. Santorum had 18 percent and Paul 13.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Texas Rep. Ron Paul trailed badly in the South Carolina voting.

Exit polling showed Gingrich, the former House speaker, leading by a wide margin among the state's heavy population of conservatives, tea party supporters and born-again Christians.

For the first time all year, Romney trailed among voters who said they cared most about picking a candidate who could defeat President Barack Obama this fall. Gingrich was ahead of the field for those voters' support.

As the first Southern primary, South Carolina has been a proving ground for Republican presidential hopefuls in recent years. Since Ronald Reagan in 1980, every Republican contender who won the primary has gone on to capture the party's nomination.

There were 25 Republican National Convention delegates at stake in South Carolina, but political momentum was the real prize with the race to pick an opponent to Obama still in its early stages.

Gingrich has won at least 15 delegates, with 10 still to be awarded. These are the first delegates Gingrich has won in a primary or caucus, though the race for delegates is still in the early stages. In all, Gingrich has 17 delegates, including endorsements from Republican National Committee members who will automatically attend the convention. Romney has 33 delegates.

It will take 1,144 delegates to win the GOP nomination.

In all, more than $12 million was spent on television ads by the candidates and their allies in South Carolina, much of it on attacks designed to degrade the support of rivals.

Interviews with voters as they left polling places showed nearly half saying their top priority was finding a candidate who could defeat Obama in the fall, followed by wishes for experience, strong moral character and true conservatism.

In a state with 9.9 percent unemployment, concern about the economy was high, and almost one-third of those voting reported a household member had lost a job in the past three years.

The exit poll was conducted for The Associated Press and the television networks by Edison Research as voters left polls at 35 randomly selected sites. The survey involved interviews with 1,577 voters and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Santorum announced shortly after the polls closed that he would open his campaign in Florida on Sunday.

Paul has said he intends to skip the state and focus his efforts on caucus contests in Nevada on Feb. 4 and Missouri several days later.

Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, pinned his South Carolina hopes on a heavy turnout in parts of the state with large concentrations of social conservatives, the voters who carried him to his surprisingly strong showing in Iowa.

Paul had a modest campaign presence here after finishing third in Iowa and second in New Hampshire. His call to withdraw U.S. troops from around the world was a tough sell in a state dotted with military installations and home to many veterans.

Reuters video on Saturday's South Carolina GOP Primary: