Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts Governor, and supposed front runner for the Republican Presidential nomination, has has a rough week.
First, he performed poorly in the Monday night South Carolina debate sponsored by Fox News Channel, being constantly on the defensive due to attacks by his rivals for the nomination.
As news came out all week about Bain Capital, and the fact that Romney, while refusing to release his tax returns anytime soon, admitted that he only paid 15 percent on his investment income, and “only” earned $364,000 in speaking fees, his polls started to suffer.
Now, today, Rick Perry has dropped out of the Presidential race and endorsed Newt Gingrich. And Rick Santorum has been declared the winner of the Iowa Caucuses by 34 votes, after trailing by 8 votes to Romney.
With Gingrich gaining support in the public opinion polls in South Carolina because of his strong debate performance, and now with Perry’s endorsement of Gingrich, it is more likely that the former Speaker of the House could defeat Romney in South Carolina.
Since 1980, every Republican winner of South Carolina’s primary has gone on to be the GOP Presidential nominee. So if Romney loses, after being declared the loser in Iowa, and only winning what is basically his “home” state, New Hampshire, suddenly Mitt Romney will be extremely shaky and vulnerable in his quest for the Republican Presidential nomination.