Thursday, November 21, 2024
Pastors from all across South Carolina are coming together in support of Biblical marriage and religious liberties. They are calling upon all Bible-believing Christians to gather on the grounds of the State House in Columbia, SC on Saturday August 29, 2015 from 11:00 AM until 1:00 PM.
South Carolina has been tough on marginal Republican presidential candidates. Jon Huntsman left the race before Monday’s debate in Myrtle Beach and Rick Perry has reportedly told supporters he will leave the race today.
There are reports, unconfirmed, that there is behind the scenes maneuvering to reduce the number of social conservative candidates to one so that branch of the party can coalesce around one candidate in a stop Romney attempt.
That’s a shame because I rather liked Perry’s debate one-liners Monday and was looking forward to more from the CNN debate in Charleston tonight.
Watching a presidential candidate debate is a subjective experience leaving impressions that strike each viewer differently. Each question was not asked of every candidate, so responses were not comparable on every question.
Below are my impressions of the candidates, their positions on some issues that stood out and their performance as it struck me during the Fox News debate at Myrtle Beach Monday night. I’m sure you will disagree with some, maybe agree at times and hopefully found out more about the candidates along the way.
My initial impression is Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry received the most applause and gave the clearest, most direct answers. Mitt Romney spent much of the evening defending himself against various attacks, often receiving only lukewarm applause. Rick Santorum often gave too technically involved, almost convoluted answers. Ron Paul sometimes struggled to get his points across.
After finishing in second place by an eyelash to Mitt Romney in the Iowa caucuses, Rick Santorum told his supporters “game on.”
The game became much more interesting yesterday when Santorum received the endorsement of 170 socially conservative Christian leaders representing various politically active organizations and financiers at a meeting in Houston.
Each candidate, with the exception of Jon Huntsman, had a representative who addressed the group. Three rounds of voting followed the speeches.
The first round saw Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry receive what was described as measurable support. Romney drew very little support.
One month before the Republican presidential candidates will be in Myrtle Beach for an important debate, Newt Gingrich has opened a double digit lead over his closest challenger Mitt Romney in South Carolina voter polls.
In a recent NBC News/Wall St. Journal poll, Gingrich holds a 40 percent to 23 percent lead over Romney while a recent Reuters poll had Gingrich leading 28 percent to 18 percent. Yet, even with Gingrich leading, the same polls show Romney as the man most capable of defeating President Obama in November.
Gingrich is a conundrum for Republican voters. Often hailed as a visionary by supporters, Gingrich seems to leave a trail of broken dreams wherever he goes.
Speak Up…