Via Twitter, the new CNN numbers in South Carolina show us a closer race. With trends*, from right after Iowa:
Mitt Romney - 33 (-4)
Newt Gingrich - 23 (+5)
Rick Santorum - 13 (-6)
Ron Paul - 13 (+1)
Rick Perry - 6 (+1)
The departure of Jon Huntsman has increased the undecided number – it’s added nothing to Romney at all. The super-group evangelical endorsement of Rick Santorum hasn’t stopped him from sliding here or in Public Policy Polling’s survey.
*If I drew out the trendline, you’d see that Gingrich peaked at 43 percent in December, before the Super PAC ads began. This suggests that there’s still a restless conservative base out there, composed of old Cain voters and the like, that basically likse Gingrich.
