From Easley, South Carolina -
While the polls still show Mitt Romney with a strong advantage in South Carolina, the GOP frontrunner altered his usual stump speech to throw some sharp elbows at Newt Gingrich on Wednesday, as backers of the former House Speaker believe he has new momentum in the Palmetto State.
"I was disappointed over the last few weeks to see one of my opponents attacking free enterprise just like the President was," Romney said of Gingrich in an event at Wofford College in Spartanburg.
"That's not the role of the Republican Party," Romney told the crowd.
It was unusual for Romney in that his regular speech focuses almost entirely on President Obama and his record in office.
Romney also scoffed at Gingrich's oft-repeated claim that he had worked closely with the Reagan Administration in developing economic growth plans.
"He'd been in Congress two years when Ronald Reagan came to office," Romney said.
Along with the detour in his speech, Romney also sent out surrogates to attack Gingrich again, as two former Republican lawmakers from Congress spoke with reporters about how Gingrich was "an unreliable leader."
It was part of a clear media push by the Romney campaign against Gingrich, as multiple emails critical of Gingrich landed in my inbox on Wednesday afternoon.
The emails featured a photo of Gingrich next to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi with the words "UNRELIABLE LEADER" next to him.
"LEADERSHIP BY CHAOS" screamed the headline on one Romney release about Gingrich.
The change of pace begged a simple question: Are the Romney people scared that Gingrich has momentum? Or are they just trying to make sure he doesn't create any in South Carolina?
When I caught up with Gingrich in Easley, South Carolina, the crowd was lined up out the door at Mutt's BBQ to hear from the former U.S. House Speaker.
"I like Newt," one voter said, "He's not perfect, but nobody is."
In his remarks to the crowd, Gingrich stuck to his regular script on Romney, accusing him of being too moderate for voters in South Carolina and the Republican Party.
"I can't imagine a debate where you compare RomneyCare and ObamaCare," Gingrich said with a dismissive air in his voice, as the crowd roared.
"I expect the Romney campaign to be excessively dirty and dishonest for the next few days," Gingrich said earlier in the day, making clear he's not ready to roll over and let Romney win without a fight.
While Gingrich told reporters after his stop at Mutt's BBQ that he would be positive again in Thursday night's debate, it won't surprise anyone here to see him go after Romney in some fashion at that debate.
"I don't think there's any other candidate in this race," Gingrich said, referring to himself as the best chance Republicans have to win in November.
The latest polling news out of South Carolina was mixed for Gingrich; while a CNN/Time poll showed him cutting Romney's lead down to 10 points, that deficit is in line with other polls in recent days from the Palmetto State.
But Gingrich was unbowed, displaying that Cheshire Cat smile that I have seen so many times over the years, as he told reporters he was optimistic about his battle plan.
And then, with a wave, he went out the back door of Mutt's and hopped on to his bus.
The Romney-Gingrich battle would start again at his next campaign stop.