From Bluffton, South Carolina
There are three big new stories early on this Thursday in the GOP race for the White House, as Rick Perry is on his way out, Rick Santorum has evidently won the Iowa Caucus and Newt Gingrich seems to have momentum in new polls from here in South Carolina.
The Perry news was breaking less than 12 hours before a final GOP debate here in the Palmetto State, which will take place tonight on CNN in Charleston.
Perry had almost dropped out two weeks ago after a weak showing in Iowa. Instead he tried to focus everything on his campaign here, but there were obvious signs he was sputtering.
New polls out today gave Perry only three, three and four points, far behind the frontrunners.
As for the series of new polls released before the final South Carolina debate, there was evidence in the fine print that Gingrich is gaining in the Palmetto State.
First, the latest Insider Advantage poll - done by a guy who used to be a Gingrich staffer - shows Gingrich is ahead by 3 points.
Compare that to the Sunday Insider Advantage poll, which had Romney ahead by 11 points. That's a 14 point shift in four days.
The new NBC/Marist poll of South Carolina had Romney ahead by 10 points, but the details show that before Monday's debate, Romney was polling ahead of Gingrich by 15 points - after, it was down to a five point advantage.
That feels like momentum, as Gingrich campaign advisers say they are "getting calls from all across the nation" urging the former U.S. House Speaker to stay in the race against Mitt Romney.
Meanwhile back in Iowa, Rick Santorum looks like he may end up the winner of the Iowa Caucus, but that may not mean much here in South Carolina.
On Thursday, Santorum talked about the chance of him winning Iowa during an event in Spartanburg, as the former Senator expressed frustration that Mitt Romney was being given so much credit for winning a narrow victory in Iowa.
Santorum's argument was simple - that he should have had the momentum out of Iowa, which instead went to Romney, and the narrative that Romney would ultimately be the GOP nominee.
As for Romney, his campaign continues to hit Gingrich hard with a series of new email attacks today.
As I wrote in another blog, that tells us either they are trying to stop Gingrich's momentum or trying to snuff it out before it starts.
The evidence is Gingrich may already have a bit of wind in his sails.
