South Carolina Primary Election 2012: Newt Gingrich Wins Most Delegates

WASHINGTON ? Newt Gingrich won most of the delegates in South Carolina's Republican presidential primary Saturday, narrowing Mitt Romney's lead in the race for delegates to the party's national convention this summer.

Gingrich, the former House speaker, has won at least 19 delegates, with six left to be awarded.

These are the first delegates Gingrich has won in a primary or caucus. In all, Gingrich has 21 delegates, including endorsements from Republican National Committee members who will automatically attend the convention. Romney has a total of 33 delegates.

South Carolina Republicans award 11 delegates to the statewide winner and two delegates to the candidate who gets the most votes in each of the state's seven congressional districts. Gingrich was the statewide winner and he won at least four congressional districts.

The race for delegates is still in the early stages. Only 62 delegates were at stake in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, combined. It will take 1,144 delegates to win the GOP nomination.

Up next: Florida on Jan. 31. Florida Republicans will award all 50 of their delegates to the statewide winner.

The Associated Press calculates the number of national convention delegates won by candidates in each presidential primary or caucus, based on state and national party rules. Most primaries and some caucuses are binding, meaning delegates won by the candidates are pledged to support that candidate at the national convention this summer.

Political parties in some states, however, use local caucuses to elect delegates to state or congressional district conventions, where national delegates are selected. In these states, the AP uses the results from local caucuses to calculate the number of national delegates each candidate will win, if the candidates maintain the same level of support.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/21/south-carolina-primary-election-2012-newt-gingrich-delegates_n_1221388.html

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