If Newt Gingrich manages to secure the nomination, Obama will have a radically easier time of getting re-elected than if Romney is the nominee. In a general election Gingrich is simply not electable according to both Gallup’s polling of swing states and most other major pollsters.

Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are effectively tied in Florida according to the most recent Quinnipiac University poll. The multi-day poll shows Romney holding just a two point lead over Gingrich, but there’s been a huge 12 point surge in support for Gingrich since earlier in the month. The poll indicates Gingrich is continuing to gain steam in Florida.

In one of the most incredibly fast swings in American presidential politics, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are now effectively tied in Gallup’s national tracking poll. Just one week ago and fresh off his victory in New Hampshire, Mitt Romney had a 23 point lead nationally over Gingrich. Today’s release from Gallup has Gingrich now just a single point behind Romney.

In his victory speech Saturday Night Newt Gingrich accused President Obama of not liking the “classical America” of our founding fathers. The only reason the country has progressed towards the land of the free, not just the land where Anglo-Saxon males are free, is because generations of so called “left-wingers” such as suffragists, abolitionists, civil rights and immigration activists saw what was deeply wrong with classical America and fought to fix it.

Final thoughts – This was a huge night for Gingrich. He won and he won big. Gingrich significantly beat expectations. He proved that there is some serious momentum behind his candidacy. This big win in South Carolina guarantees that this will be a long primary battle.

The big loser tonight, besides of course Mitt Romney, is Rick Santorum who came in a weak third. South Carolina with its large number of evangelical voters should have been a good place for him. After this poor performance it is going to be hard for Santorum to raise money and get volunteers.

One week ago Mitt Romney was riding high. He had a 23 point lead in the Gallup national polling, held a big lead in South Carolina and was on track to quickly wrapping up the nomination. A lot has changed in just seven days. Romney’s national lead has dropped to just 10 points, still large but moving in the wrong direction quickly.

Yeah, we can talk about how Newt went ballistic and blamed the media for asking about his wandering pee-pee and alleged open marriage request of wife #2, or how Rick Santorum finally located his #clownballs and pummeled Romney and Newt mercilessly in a desperate attempt to remain relevant, but it was Mittens, poor little Mittens, who stunk up the joint at the CNN Debate held in Charleston, SC Thursday night.

Apparently Gingrich thinks that IF he should ever take the Presidential Oath it also creates an Open Marriage.

The story from Evan McMorris-Santoro here, about conservatives turning up their nose and saying “Meh” to the upcoming Marianne Gingrich revelations, even the open marriage stuff, is completely anecdotal. But it fits with a general story about redemption that conservative Christians often tell themselves to allow for a candidate who fails them morally but still offers them low taxes and a strong national defense.

Satire is dead; the Republican Presidential contest killed it, stone-cold dead. And we don’t even have to recite all the outrageous things they’ve said, or things others have said about them, just in the last 24-48 hours. It’s too depressing, too mind-numbing to relate.