So far Ron Paul is the only alternative to Mitt Romney that has placed top three in both New Hampshire and Iowa. Looks like it’s going to happen again in South Carolina. The media won’t acknowledge it, but we are down to a two man race:

CNN reports:

With eight days to go until the South Carolina primary, a new poll suggests a close contest in the first southern state to vote in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

According to an American Research Group survey released Friday morning, 29% of likely Palmetto State GOP primary voters say they’re backing Mitt Romney, with 25% supporting former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Romney’s four-point margin over Gingrich is within the poll’s sampling error.

The survey indicates Rep. Ron Paul of Texas at 20%, Texas Gov. Rick Perry at 9%, former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania at 7%, and former Utah Gov. and former U.S. ambassador to China Jon Huntsman at 1%, with 7% undecided.

The poll was conducted Wednesday and Thursday, after Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary. Romney, the former governor of neighboring Massachusetts, won nearly 40% of the vote in New Hampshire, with Paul, the longtime congressman who’s making his third bid for the White House, finishing a strong second.

Paul has surged 11 points and Santorum has dropped 17 points since ARG’s last survey in South Carolina, which was conducted after Iowa’s January 3 caucuses and before New Hampshire’s primary. Perry has jumped 7 points since the earlier survey, with Gingrich inching up two points and Romney losing two points. Romney edged out Santorum by eight votes to win Iowa’s caucuses. Paul came in third place.

Ron Paul has a very comfortable 11 point lead over fourth place and reports are starting to indicate that he’s “surging” ahead and closing in on second.

Wes Messamore,
Editor in Chief, THL
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