Newt 40%, Romney 26% the long nightmare will continue.

What a difference a week can make. Romney has gone from being the inevitable candidate to losing by 14% in the GOP heartland. If Santorum ever had a chance of winning the nomination it was to beat Gingrich in South Carolina and consolidate the anti-Romney vote.

If the contest was being played by the 2008 rules Santorum would probably have to call it quits. This was meant to be Santorum country and he came in third with less than half the votes Gingrich got. But the GOP decided that the long drawn out 2008 contest was so good for Hilary and Obama that they wanted some of the same magic and so the early states are not allowed to have winner takes all races. Santorum will not win the nomination race but he might collect enough delegates to demand the Veep spot on the ticket.

Colbert/Cain only picked up 1% which is probably just as well. While it would have been funny as hell now if Colbert had managed to pick up a delegate or two it would be much less funny when Cain was directing their votes at the convention.