Six weeks ago, Mitt Romney winning Iowa and New Hampshire was considered a long-shot. If he did pull off that twin-win, the conventional wisdom just six days ago was that he would have only a slight chance of winning in the third primary contest in South Carolina.
But now he has a solid lead in the S.C. polls and he just raked in $24 million in the fourth quarter of 2011. In short, he is suddenly the frontrunner.
In its morning rundown of the GOP primary race, Politico reports that Romney received another boost today as Sen. Jim DeMint predicted the former Massachusetts governor will win the S.C. primary.
That’s not an endorsement but DeMint, who is highly popular in the state, especially with the tea party people, backed Romney in 2008 and is staying on the sidelines this time.
In an interview published in The State newspaper, DeMint praised Romney’s new Hampshire victory speech for touching on “a lot of hot buttons,” and he denounced Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry (though not by name) for criticizing “free market principles” in their attempt to bash Romney’s career at Bain Capital.
According to Politico, Romney won’t get a DeMint endorsement but a group of “loyalists” to the senator — including a top fundraiser for Rick Perry — will publicly endorse Romney on Thursday. CNN has reported that former South Carolina GOP Chairman Barry Wynn, Columbia businessman and fundraiser Peter Brown, and Columbia attorney Kevin Hall are part of an informal group of South Carolina GOP power brokers that dubbed itself the “keep your powder dry caucus” this summer to express their discontent with the current GOP field. But their endorsement, Politico reports, signals that Romney has made significant inroads with the Columbia political class after his wins in Iowa and New Hampshire.
At this rate, Romney will be required to start lowering expectations soon in a state that was previously thought to be a very bad fit for a moderate Massachusetts Mormon.
