The campaigning in South Carolina continues through the holiday weekend. Here are the 10 things you need to know.
- New CNN poll confirms national Romney momentum A new national poll from CNN shows former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney up big, taking 34 percent of the vote and building an 18 percent lead. There’s two trends in polling the GOP at the moment — South Carolina is a real race, but nationally it looks like Republicans are finally accepting Romney as the nominee.
- Huckabee hosts SC forum Former presidential candidate and current Fox News host Mike Huckabee will be hosting a forum for the current crop of Republican hopefuls on Saturday from 8 to 10 PM Eastern at the College of Charleston. All the candidates, except for Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), will answer questions from undecided voters in the Palmetto state.
- Franks endorses Gingrich Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) one of the Tea Party’s leaders on Capitol Hill, has endorsed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich for president. Franks cited Gingrich’s support on social issues as one of the chief reasons for supporting him, going after Romney on the point. “I believe that Mitt Romney would have an impossible time mobilizing pro-life voters if he became the nominee,” Franks said in a release blasted out by the Gingrich campaign.
- Challenge to Virginia ballot requirements shot down: The only candidates that will be on the Virginia GOP primary ballot with be Romney and Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), as the rest of the field were unable to collect enough signatures. Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign then challenged the law governing ballot access in the state, but a Federal judge turned them down on Friday.
- Watch for Eurozone reaction: Watch for candidate reaction to the latest news that the credit ratings of multiple European Union nations will be downgraded by Standard & Poor’s, one of the major ratings agencies. France, Ireland, Italy and Spain were all dropped by varying levels on Friday.
- Colbert jumps into the fray Comedian Stephen Colbert is getting fully involved in the South Carolina GOP primary process — yesterday he said he’d be forming an exploratory committee, he transfered the control of his super PAC to Jon Stewart, and now he’s taking tangible steps in his home state: he’ll be running ads in Charleston and is appearing on This Week.
- AFP drops $6 million against Obama Americans For Prosperity is buying $6 million worth of ad time to attack President Obama over Solyndra, ABC’s Jake Tapper reports. The ads will be up Monday afternoon on “network and cable outlets in battleground states Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and Wisconsin.”
- Bain Capital Romney’s biggest financial backer: A new report from the Sunlight Foundation asserts that employees and family members of workers at Bain Capital have contributed more to Romney’s campaigns over the years than anyone else. “Current and former executives and family members of Bain Capital have contributed more than $2.7 million to Romney’s federal and state campaigns, federal and state leadership PACs, the Restore Our Future super PAC that supports Romney, and his gubernatorial inauguration fundraising committee,” the foundation writes.
- Presidential candidates start reacting to Obama plan to merge agencies Look for presidential candidates to react to the news that President Obama is attempting to merge trade and commerce agencies in an attempt to make government more efficient and save money. Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson already questioned the savings number in a tweet on Friday.
- Cain endorses his own plan, not a candidate Former Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain keeps finding his way back into the spotlight, and having promised an “unconventional” endorsement before South Carolina it seems increasingly clear this won’t be a straight endorsement for a living, breathing candidate — Grace Wyler at Business Insider reports that Cain will endorse his own 9-9-9 tax plan, and thus any candidate that embraces it along with it.
