Gingrich basks in comeback S.C. win, looks to Florida

A buoyant Newt Gingrich struck a populist tone while claiming a double-digit, come-from-behind victory Saturday night, saying that South Carolina voters proved that bold ideas could trump deep campaign coffers.

“Thank you to everyone in South Carolina who decided to be with us in changing Washington,” he said, speaking to hundreds of jubilant supporters overflowing a hotel ballroom here. “The biggest thing I take from the campaign in South Carolina is that it is very humbling and very sobering to have so many people who so deeply want their country to get back on the right track. So many people who are so concerned about jobs, about medical costs, about the everyday parts of life, and who feel that the elites in Washington and New York have no understanding, no care, no concern, no reliability, and in fact do not represent them at all.”

Unlike the barn-burning speech Gingrich gave after losing badly in Iowa, on Saturday he effusively praised his rivals. Rick Santorum had run a fantastic campaign with little money, was a true social conservative and was prescient about the dangers Iran poses, Gingrich said. Ron Paul honed in on the nation’s failed monetary policy decades before others paid attention. Mitt Romney was hardworking successful and did a “terrific” job righting the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

“The genius of America is you can come from any background,” he said. “If you look at the four of us, it’s proof you can come from a wide range of backgrounds and in America you have a chance to try to make your case no matter what the elites think in New York and Washington.”

Largely following his typical stump speech, Gingrich aimed his fire at President Obama, saying he wants to turn the nation into a secular, socialist nation modeled on Europe and reiterating his charge that Obama is a “food stamp president” while Gingrich would be a “paycheck president.”

“If Barack Obama can get reelected after this disaster, just think how radical he would be in a second term,” Gingrich said, as the crowd booed loudly.

Gingrich said that while the campaign would be about the economy, creating jobs and reining in an overly active judiciary, it was about something far deeper – the core beliefs of what makes America America.

“The centerpiece of this campaign, I believe, is American exceptionalism versus the radicalism of Saul Alinsky,” Gingrich said, as the crowd chanted, “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” “We are going to argue American exceptionalism, the American Declaration of Independence, the American Constitution, the American federalist papers; the founding fathers of America are the source from which we draw our understanding of America. He draws his from Saul Alinsky, radical left-wingers and people who don’t like the classical America.”

He urged the crowd, which included many people who came from other states to volunteer for Gingrich, to help him in Florida, which holds the next primary, and he took a mild slap at Romney, though not by name, in his concluding remarks.

“We need to build on this victory by going to Florida. I need your help in reaching out to people in Florida,” he said. “We don’t have the kind of money that at least one of the candidates [has], but we do have ideas and we do have people. We proved here in South Carolina people with power and the right ideas beats big money.”