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Newt gingrich, who did win that primary and of course, mitt romney was the nominee that year. but it is sort of historically, you know, the tiebreaker, the one that identifies who the candidate is most likely to be. >> john, to kathleen's point, do you think too much attention is paid on iowa and new hampshire? south carolina is only 11 days after new hampshire. >> as kathleen noted, south carolina has a history of being the decisive state. and as i said before, the republican primaries tend to end pretty quickly. bob dole can win new hampshire. and george h.w. bush then wins south carolina, f...

>> tonight we celebrate. tomorrow we go back to work. >> dana bash is in manchester. christine romans is in the election center digging into who voted and why. peter ham by is in south carolina, the next stop in this grueling presidential primary. let's begin with dana there. romney's two for two. he won iowa, he won new hampshire. this victory wasn't a surprise, not to most. he was expected to win. it's the size of his win that's really grabbing attention, however. is it enough to get the party to finally rally behind him? >> reporter: well, fred, that's probably not going to happen...

Recover. he's faced criticism and incoming from significant leaders in the party, elected officials in the party. he's been able to overcome each one of them. i think the most interesting part of this is where he stands according to the polling in south carolina. to be running 15 to 20 points ahead in south carolina, in a state which you and i know from the south there are questions about whether romney's politics or positions on issues will appeal to voters there. i think he finds himself in a much stronger position than i thought he would be a day before this primary. and certainly i think p...

Romney's not lost and had to recover. he's faced criticism and incoming from significant leaders in the party, elected officials in the party. he's been able to overcome each one of them. i think the most interesting part of this is where he stands according to the polling in south carolina. to be running 15 to 20 points ahead in south carolina, in a state which you and i know from the south there are questions about whether romney's politics or positions on issues will appeal to voters there. i think he finds himself in a much stronger position than i thought he would be a day before this pri...

He's dreaming of the big win that he wins in south carolina and the republicans throw up their hands and go home. the rest of his opponents, the conservatives who have complained so much about him in the end he wins south carolina and they say, i guess he really was inevitable. in that interesting way romney is at a moment now where a guy who plan ford a long drawn out fight to the convention, could really put this thing to bed right now. >> bret: you talk about candidates coming out swinging traditionally, south carolina is where it gets down and dirty. >> it often gets down and dirty invisib...