Knives are out for Ron Paul in South Carolina as campaigning continues after the latest Republican debate - live coverage
Good morning and welcome to our continuing coverage of the South Carolina primary race. Here's a summary of last night's fiery debate from Ryan Devereaux:
Republican presidential hopefuls set their sights on Mitt Romney in one of the more raucous debates yet this year. With just five days remaining before the South Carolina primary, Romney's challengers called the frontrunner's tax history, business ties and character into question. Newt Gingrich, who trailed Romney by 8 percentage points in the polls coming into Monday's debate, was widely considered to have performed strongly in the contest.
Mitt Romney, who is normally known for his calm and collected demeanor appeared to be on the defensive for much of the evening. Texas governor Rick Perry challenged Romney to release his tax records – after much prodding, Romney said he might release his financial history in April, when the contest for the Republican nomination may well be over.
The 3,000-strong, mostly white audience booed when moderator Juan Williams suggested Gingrich's characterization of President Obama as a "food stamp president" may be viewed as belittling to the poor and racial minorities. In a charged exchange, Gingrich seized on the criticism, claiming "more people have been put on food stamps by Barack Obama than any president in American history" – a fact that is numerically correct but does not take account of the economic reality President Obama inherited in 2008. The crowd also voiced its displeasure when, during a discussion of immigration, it was mentioned that Mitt Romney's father was born in Mexico.
Ron Paul was also booed when he attempted to explain why the US did not need secretly to enter Pakistan to kill Osama bin Laden. Paul pointed out that the US had managed to capture Saddam Hussein alive,
and that the Iraqi government had put him on trial. The line did not
go down well with the audience or his Republican rivals.
Campaigning continues in South Carolina today. Mitt Romney's spokesman has said that he expects Jon Huntsman, who dropped out of the race yesterday and endorsed the frontrunner, to campaign with him "at some point".
Here's the Guardian's video package of debate highlights:
Another harbinger of Mitt Romney's Creeping Inevitability Tendency – sounds like a post-punk 1990s band somehow – comes in this new ABC/Washington Post poll out this morning:
Romney wins the support of 35% of all Republicans and GOP-leaners nationwide, with former House speaker Newt Gingrich and Rep. Ron Paul neck and neck with about half the support Romney enjoys. Former senator Rick Santorum, who surged to a second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, checks in at 13%, his highest level of the campaign.
Here's the thing: questions of approval and electability in national polls such as this tend to rise and fall alongside a candidate's performances in the primaries. Candidate chicken and primary egg, if you will.
Let's go out and about with the candidates today, shall we?
Everyone is in South Carolina, apart from Mitt Romney, who is smoking big cigars in New York City lit using $100 bills while brushing his teeth in champagne:
• Mitt Romney
8.30am: Held a rally to discusses jobs and the economy, Florence Civic Center, Florence, South Carolina.
6pm: Attends a campaign fundraising event, with event organizers including Steve Schwarzman, co-chairman of the Blackstone Group, Sheraton New York Hotel, New York
• Ron Paul
10am: Holds a news conference. South Carolina State House, Columbia
2pm: Holds a town hall, Spartanburg
4.30pm: Holds a town hall, Rock Hill
• Rick Santorum
8.30am: Held a news conference aboard the USS Yorktown, Charleston, followed by a "national security town hall"
11.30am: Addresses the Aiken Republican Club, Aiken
2pm: Holds a town hall, Lexington
5.45pm: Participates in the South Carolina BIPEC 2012 Republican Presidential Candidate Forum, Columbia
8pm: Holds a campaign rally at Fuddruckers, Anderson
• Newt Gingrich
10am: Holds Florence Town Hall Meeting, Florence
Noon: Attends US Global Leadership Coalition Foreign Policy Forum and Luncheon, Columbia
1.30pm: Holds South Carolina Farmer's Market town hall. West Columbia
4pm: Holds an "Ask Newt" tele-townhall: 1-877-218-6543
5.30pm: Participates in South Carolina BIPEC 2012 GOP Primary Candiates Forum, Columbia
7.30pm: Speaks at Greater CSRA Conservative Coalition Presidential Forum. USC-Aiken Convocation Center, Aiken
• Rick Perry
9.30am: Held town hall meeting. VFW, Murrells Inlet
5pm: Participates in BIPEC Forum, Columbia
8pm: Speaks at The Response, Greenville
• Jon Huntsman
10am: Has a long lie-in
10.12am: Thinks about doing New York Times crossword
10.18am: Hums
10.30am: Receives updated orders from Chinese paymasters
10.47am: Finally tears off latex mask disguise
11.30pm: Waits for submarine to surface off coast of California
What effect last night's Republican debate had on the fate of Mitt Romney remains to be seen. But the conservative blogs and channels lit up on the subject of Ron Paul and his view of the US role in foreign policy.
This video shows one of the contentious debates between Ron Paul and everyone else, including the bulk of the audience based on the jeers and boos.
Here's the transcript of Ron Paul's comments, after being asked about his opposition to the US assassination of Osama bin Laden:
There is proper procedures rather than digging bigger holes for ourselves. That's what we have been doing in the Middle East, digging bigger and bigger holes for ourselves and it's so hard for us to get out of that mess. And we have a long ways to go. We are still in Iraq and that's getting worse and we are not leaving Afghanistan and the American people are sick and tired of it, 80% of the American people want us out of there. I am just suggesting that we work within the rule of law. Like only going to war when you declare the law.
Responding to Gingrich, Paul went on to say:
My point is, if another country does to us what we do others, we're not going to like it very much. So I would say that maybe we ought to consider a golden rule in foreign policy. Don't do to other nations... [Boos]
... what we don't want to have them do to us. So we endlessly bomb these countries and then we wonder, wonder why they get upset with us? And yet it continues on and on. I mean, this idea that we can't debate foreign policy, then all we have to do is start another war?
I mean, it's warmongering. They're building up for another war against Iran, and people can't wait to get in another war. This country doesn't need another war. We need to quit the ones we're in. We need to save the money and bring our troops home.
This is not what a Republican audience is used to hearing – hence the boos and jeers at an unprecedented level for a GOP debate. Yet Paul continues to poll well despite his heretical views.
In a sign of their concern, the war wing of the Republican party has started deploying its big guns against Ron Paul: on Fox News, Liz Cheney was rolled out to more or less accuse Ron Paul of being a terrorist sympathiser.
So Mitt Romney has decided to firm up his "maybe, I don't know, whatever, time will tell" position on publishing his tax returns – and now says he will publish them in April.
This comes at an unscheduled news conference held by Romney in South Carolina, trying to stop his unpublished tax returns from becoming a bigger news story after he flanneled last night under questioning during the debate.
Now Romney says firmly that he will publish them – assuming at that point he's the nominee, one imagines – and also reveals that his overall tax rate is just 15%. Or as Romney's periphrasic syntax would have it:
It's probably closer to the 15% rate than anything. Because my last 10 years, my income comes overwhelmingly from some investments made in the past, whether ordinary income or earned annually. I got a little bit of income from my book, but I gave that all away. And then I get speaker's fees from time to time, but not very much.
Those "some investments" are worth about $200m we think, perhaps more, while the "not very much" in speaking fees amounted to $374,000 last year, getting about $41,000 a time. If you think that's "not very much" then ... you have a lot of money already.
(Having said that I'm sure the latest tax year sees less in the way of speaking fees for Romney, since his presidential campaign means he's giving away his words of wisdom for free.)
Here's an explanation of why Romney's "some investments" returns attract just 15% in tax.
In case you were wondering: the Obama family's effective tax rate is 26%.
Compare and contrast the audience reaction from last night's GOP debate on foreign policy:
A. Demand that the US stop getting involved in foreign wars and treat other countries as it would be treated? Boooooooo
B. Call the government of Turkey "Islamic terrorists" and suggest it be kicked out of Nato? Yaaaaaay
The Democrats aren't wasting anytime waiting for Mitt Romney to release his tax filings.
This web ad is a taste of things to come later this year in the likely event that Romney is the Republican nominee.
Ha. The New York Times reports on a new robocall to voters in South Carolina from the Romney campaign that cunningly repeats Rick Santorum's endorsement of Mitt Romney in the 2008 Republican primary:
Audio: This is an urgent message from the Romney campaign. In 2008, Rick Santorum made the following announcement on Laura Ingraham's radio program."
Laura Ingraham: Joining us now with an important announcement, you're not going to want to miss this, former senator from the great state of Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum.
Rick Santorum: If you're a conservative, there really is only one place to go right now. I would even argue farther than that. If you're a Republican, if you're a Republican in the broadest sense, there is only one place to go right now, and that's Mitt Romney.
The Turkish government has responded to Rick Perry's remarks suggesting that is a nest of "Islamic terrorists" – and is, as you might expect, not impressed at such "misplaced and ill-advised criticism":
Turkey is a secular democracy that has for decades been an essential and trusted partner of the US. Our bilateral relations are based on the common values of democracy and respect for human rights, rule of law, and free market economy. Whether in the fight against terrorism or violent extremism, in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria or against the proliferation of WMD, we stand side by side to tackle the many common threats and challenges of our times.
Through Nato and bilaterally, Turkey and the US will continue to cooperate day in day out to establish peace, security and prosperity around the world.
Contrary to statements during the debate, Turkey receives no significant sums of foreign aid dollars from the US. Indeed, Turkey is a strong and growing trading partner with the US in general, and with Texas in particular creating thousands of jobs throughout that state.
Texas, you say? Fancy.
Assuming Ron Paul continues to rack up delegates over the coming primary season, we'll all be wondering what Ron Paul wants.
He has a Plan B, it seems, according to his campaign manager Jesse Benton, who tells ABC News:
If the campaign comes up short at the convention, Benton says the plan is to use all the delegates awarded to Paul as a bargaining chip to force the Republican Party to stick to its limited government platform.
Benton says this could include auditing the Federal Reserve and winding back several parts of the Patriot Act, including roving wire taps which he says were originally written with the intent of expiring.
It's real: Stephen Colbert's Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow Super Pac's official filing with the Federal Elections Committee.
Non-South Carolina political news: over in Wisconsin the petition efforts to recall controversial Republican governor Scott Walker are reaching fruition today (via AP):
The signature drive started two months ago, largely in reaction to a law pushed by the governor last year that ended nearly all collective bargaining rights for most public workers. Organizers say they have gathered far more than the 540,208 signatures required to force the election against both Walker and GOP Lt Gov Rebecca Kleefisch.
Recall organizers on Tuesday morning already had turned in 23% more signatures than necessary to force a recall election against state Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, a Republican and staunch supporter of Walker's agenda.
Walker is far away from Madison, the state capital, when the organisers submit their petition: he's said to be fundraising in New York.
So where did Jon Huntsman's supporters go after he withdrew from the GOP primary. Straight into Mitt Romney's arms in South Carolina, according to Rasmussen Reports in a poll conducted just before last night's debate:
Mitt Romney 35%
Newt Gingrich 21%
Ron Paul 16%
Rick Santorum 16%
Rick Perry 5%
So Santorum and Gingrich are neatly splitting the anti-Romney vote between tham, allowing Romney to sail through the middle.
Fun fact: Stephen Colbert has a higher approval rating than any of the Republican candidates, according to the serious poll from PPP:
36% of voters have a favorable opinion of [Colbert] to 28% with a negative one. His 36% favorability is better than the entire GOP field. Romney's at 35%, Santorum at 30%, Paul at 27%, Gingrich at 26%, and Perry at 21%. Colbert's popular with Democrats (47/21) and independents (43/26) but not with Republicans (18/39) despite his best efforts to run as one of their Presidential candidates.
Let's not forget that Stephen Colbert isn't actually running for president ... but to cheer up Republicans, if Colbert did run he'd take support away from Obama in a three-way with Romney. And hey, iof a guy who ran a pizza company can be a serious candidate for five minutes, why can't a comedian?
The poll's national match-up shows Mitt Romney and Ron Paul have identical performances against Obama, with both trailing him by five percentage points.
Barack Obama will give his acceptance speech on the last day of the Democratic National Convention outdoors at the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.
That's a reprise of his 2008 acceptance speech venue at Denver's Mile High Stadium, but with a catchy corporate sponsor's name.
Polling guru Nate Silver of the New York Times has been slaughtering goats, reading entrails and so forth, and now estimates that Mitt Romney only has a narrow 91% chance of winning the South Carolina primary.
The Turkish Coalition of America is none too pleased about Rick Perry's "Islamic terrorist" description of Turkey's government and "respectfully requests that Governor Perry apologize for his divisive and uneducated remarks". That should do the trick I imagine.
In a statement, TCA president Lincoln McCurdy said:
Turkey is one of the largest contributors of support to US efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq, including providing the second-largest Nato army on the ground, leading the Nato troops in Afghanistan three times, and providing over 70% of the international logistics support to US troops in Iraq.
In Governor Perry's own state, exports to Turkey have increased over 215% in the last four years, and Texas is home to a thriving Turkish American community.
The level of ignorance shown by the governor of such an important state as Texas is appalling. How can we expect to have friends in the international world if our leaders show this level of ignorance and narrow mindedness in trying to score political points?
The Guardian's Chris McGreal is in Greenville, the centre of conservative Republicanism in South Carolina.
He finds many Republican voters in the area are not delighted about the amount of electioneering going on:
People around here in Greenville are telling me they are getting 15 to 20 robocalls a day from the Republican presidential candidates. Some have just taken to leaving their answering machines or voicemail on, and no longer bothering to pick up the phone.
One guy said to me that he'd had so many calls from Mitt Romney's campaign that he considered to be basically dishonest that he's thinking of not voting for Romney.
This is Matt Wells taking over from Richard Adams for the rest of the day. Interesting TV ad news: according to NBC, the Obama campaign has approached TV stations to request rates for a "potential and significant TV ad buy".
The lifting of restrictions on political action committee funding has meant that in primary and caucus states, voters are being deluged by political messages. And of course, in many cases, these messages are anti-Obama.
There are signs that Romney's "not very much" reference, when talking about speaker fees that totalled more than $370,000 in the course of one year, could come to haunt him.
The Washington Post's blog The Fix says the problem is not that he's rich, per se – Obama's book sales have brought him wealth too – but that it makes him seem out of touch with ordinary people.
Voters want to feel as though they are electing someone who feels their pain (hellooo Bill Clinton!), someone who, at some point in his life, has walked in their shoes.
Being rich isn't the problem. Being unaware that lots and lots of other people aren't (and what that means in real terms) is.
One of the "moments" in last night's TV debate was the racially charged exchanged between Newt Gingrich and one of the moderators, Juan Williams. Gingrich isn't remotely embarassed by it – in fact, he's turned it into a TV ad.
We're bringing this live blog to an end for today, but we'll be back with more tomorrow. Thanks for reading and commenting.