The South Carolina primary is a week away. Here are the 10 things you need to know.
- New South Carolina poll out midday: A new poll of South Carolina from Public Polling Policy (D) will be out early afternoon on Friday. Early results tweeted by PPP pollster Tom Jensen suggest that the race will really boil down to a contest between Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, as the former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum has lost momentum.
- Newt employs the French attack on Romney: Speaking of Gingrich, his campaign is out with a new web ad attacking Romney for being a “Massachusetts Moderate,” a major theme. But the new video goes after Romney in a new way — by emphasizing all things French. Complete with accordion music and featuring a clip of Romney speaking the language. The web video is a small preview of campaign tactics to come in South Carolina.
- Adelson moves away from Gingrich attack: Billionaire casino tycoon Sheldon Adelson, who has ponied up money for a pro-Gingirch super PAC, Winning Our Future, is not exactly embracing Gingrich’s attacks on Mitt Romney’s career at Bain Capital. The business mogul told the Las Vegas Sun through a surrogate that while he gave the money, he’s not involved in how it will be used, especially not for the “King of Bain,” the 28 minute anti-Romney documentary that’s being propped up by Winning Our Future.
- Romney building a lead nationally: As he continues to lead in the polling of South Carolina a week away from the GOP primary, Romney has now built a nearly twenty point lead nationally in the Gallup nightly tracking poll of the race. His last score in the Gallup poll was 34 percent, with Gingrich second at 15. Romney’s lead in the TPM Poll Average of the national race is at 13.5 percent.
- American Crossroads plans an issue advocacy blitz in 2012: Crossroads GPS, a conservative political action committee, will spend millions on TV ads and voter contact efforts in order to push their legislative agenda during the election season. National Journal reports that the organization “…is planning to share its new agenda with Republican House members, chiefs of staff, committee members and staffers, K Street and likeminded insiders starting early next week…”
- Congressional Dems surpass their recruiting goals: The Democratic National Campaign Committee announced yesterday that they have surpassed their recruiting goals so far in the 2012 cycle, boasting 75 “strong” candidates In GOP held and open seats. Dems also point out that the National Journal called their recruiting class the “strongest recruiting class since ’06, no small feat,” and have outraised their counterparts by $4.3 million.
- Gingrich to address Hispanic Leadership conference: Newt Gingrich will speak to a group of Hispanic leaders on January 27, four days before the Florida primary, at the Hispanic Leadership Conference, according to a report from the Tampa Bay Times. A Republican-leaning event that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has chaired in the past, other speakers include Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL).
- Jeb Bush will endorse ahead of Florida Primary: Speaking of the younger Bush brother, the former Governor will endorse a Republican candidate ahead of the primary in his state on the 31st, reports Zeke Miller. Readers will remember that George Bush Sr. spoke positively about Romney, while stopping short of a full fledged embrace.
- Gallup: Slightly more Americans want Obama to set the country’s agenda: New data from Gallup shows that more Americans want President Obama to “have more influence on what direction the nation takes in the next year” over the Republicans in Congress. 46 percent of Americans felt that way about Obama to 42 percent for the Congressional GOP. In 2010, when Republicans were poised to take over the House, the GOP held an eight point advantage on the rating.
- Re-do in West Virginia: John Raese will challenge West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin (D) again for his seat, setting up a rematch of the 2010 special election. Manchin was a former Governor who ran for the seat after the death of long-time Senator Robert Byrd, beating Reese by ten points.
