GREENVILLE, S.C. — As the Great Battle of the Ham between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich draws to a close this morning, this reporter declares Gingrich the winner.
As Holly Bailey describes below, America just barely avoided a primary-morning Battle Royale between the presidential contenders today at Tommy’s Ham House, a must-stop on the South Carolina campaign trail.? On Friday night, it was discovered that Romney had scheduled a last-minute visit here at the exact time Gingrich ?was ?planning to arrive. Asked about the possible conflict, both campaigns vowed they would not cancel. “We are not changing our schedule,” a Romney campaign aide told ABC News Friday night.
The place was packed Saturday morning, and reporters circled the restaurant, aching for a Newt v. Gingrich confrontation.
“It’s Aporkalypse Now!” CNN’s Jim Costa quipped before asking, “Are they serving Pork and Bains?”
The excitement vanished when Romney pulled up 45 minutes before the showdown was expected to begin.
“Mitt’s here,” a Gingrich staffer wrote in an email as soon as the bus pulled up. “He blinked.”
I caught up with Romney just before he headed out the door. “Did you arrive early to avoid a showdown with Newt?” I asked. He ignored me and left with about 15 minutes to spare before Gingrich showed up.
When Gingrich strolled in, he boasted.
“I have a question!” Gingrich bellowed, standing above the crowd on a cooler. “Where’s Mitt? I thought he was going to stay and maybe we would have a little debate here this morning. So I’m kind of confused.”
–Chris Moody, 12:15 p.m. ET
Disappointing scores of reporters who had hoped for a tense showdown, Mitt Romney showed up more than an hour early to Tommy’s Ham House this morning, avoiding a run-in with Newt Gingrich, who had been scheduled to appear at the restaurant at the same time.
It was a mob scene, as dozens of Romney and Gingrich supporters had staked out spots at tables around the room, leaving dozens and dozens of reporters and other onlookers to squeeze in around them. After coming through the door, Romney stood on a chair and shouted to patrons, asking for their vote. As he moved through the room, he set off a near riot.
There was pushing and shoving, and one woman fainted just a few feet away from the candidate. Seeing no way around the mob, Romney, at one point, climbed over a table?stepping right into the breakfast of Agence France Press reporter Olivier Knox.
Outside, Gingrich supporters waved giant “Newt 2012″ signs outside Romney’s campaign bus as Romney supporters?many of whom told Yahoo News they had driven up from Virginia to volunteer on Romney’s behalf?shouted.
One woman near Romney waved campaign signs for both the ex-governor and Gingrich. “I can’t decide!” she said.
Across the street, supporters of Ron Paul had occupied a Hardee’s restaurant, eying the circus from afar.
–Holly Bailey, 12:06 p.m. ET
GILBERT, S.C.– Curtis Loftis, one of South Carolina’s biggest tea party stars who became state treasurer in 2010, has received some flak from the movement for endorsing Mitt Romney? many tea partiers consider Romney too moderate to earn their support in 2012. But Loftis explained to Yahoo News that he sincerely believes Romney is the best candidate running for president, given the options.
“The only perfect tea party candidates are Barry Goldwater and Ronald Reagan, and they’re both dead,” Loftis said. Asked to explain what about Romney isn’t “perfect,” Loftis said that the former Massachusetts governor isn’t as socially conservative as some of his competitors.
“South Carolina is a very conservative state, so it’s not hard to be of the left of most of us,” said Loftis, a self-described evangelical Christian. “But Mitt Romney is a faithful guy, been married to the same woman for 43 years, a faithful member of his church, a good American.”
South Carolina voters will rally around Romney because of his business experience, Loftis said, adding later in our conversation that “second place is last place” in the South Carolina contest.
Watch the video to hear Loftis explain his support for Romney, and his thoughts on Texas Rep. Ron Paul and socially conservative voters in the state.
–Rachel Rose Hartman, 11:55 a.m. ET
Mitt Romney at Tommy’s Ham House in Greenville, S.C.
GREENVILLE, S.C.?Just as South Carolina has become known for picking every Republican nominee since 1980, no candidate in recent memory has won the nomination without first passing through the doors of Tommy’s Ham House, a local institution known for its artery-clogging breakfasts.
George W. Bush sampled the grits here in 2000 and 2004. John McCain held ham breakfast town halls at the restaurant in 2007, when his campaign was left for dead. (Mike Huckabee, the Republican runner-up in ’08, even visited here and?admitted it posed a major risk to his then very strict diet.)
So it was no surprise that Mitt Romney would want to make an appearance at Tommy’s on Saturday?his first this campaign season?but as political reporters quickly noticed after the Romney campaign sent a seemingly innocuous e-mail announcing the candidate’s schedule this morning, there was a major caveat to Romney’s visit. His schedule had him appearing at the restaurant at the same time as Newt Gingrich. And thus the scandal known around Twitter as “Hamgate” was born.
Gingrich’s campaign woke up Tommy Stevenson, the Tommy of Tommy’s Ham House, to ask if Romney had let the restaurant know he was coming. A groggy Stevenson, who is up before sunrise most days, said he hadn’t, according to the Gingrich campaign?which quickly disseminated the information to reporters, implying that Romney was trying to crash the former House Speaker’s event.
A Romney aide called the scheduling a “pure coincidence”?but the campaign did not hide its amusement at the situation. Told that that the Gingrich campaign was putting out word from the restaurant that Romney hadn’t alerted them of his stop, Stuart Stevens, the candidate’s chief strategist, wore a sly smile. “Oh really?” he said, innocently.
Reporters began jokingly coining the run-in as the “Ham House Showdown,” while CNN noted that Romney campaign had denied planning a “ham-bush.”
The Gingrich advance team went into action. Shortly before 7 a.m., hours before either candidate was expected to be on the scene, aides covered virtually every stretch of grass surrounding the restaurant with “Newt 2012″ yard signs. Two enormous Gingrich placards were placed at the dueling entrances of the site, while aides papered the glass door with “Newt” signs?leaving virtually no room for Romney signs.
By 7:30 a.m., a woman was out front selling Gingrich campaign buttons. “No Romney,” she admitted, sadly.??By 8:30 a.m., the parking lot was full, with one satellite truck and several news vans, and crews were setting up live shots. Behind them were dozens and dozens of cars, each branded with bumper stickers touting Gingrich or Romney.
Inside, the restaurant was doing brisk business. A hostess said the restaurant called in extra hands to deal with the looming political storm. “We hope they’re ready to eat,” she said.
Now the big unknown is whether the candidates will actually cross paths. According to his schedule, Gingrich is scheduled to arrive at Tommy’s at 10:45 a.m. ET?though the former speaker is known to run late to his events much of the time. Romney, meanwhile, is scheduled to show up on site around 11:00 a.m.?and he is often very punctual.
If the news media is to be believed, it could be the most exciting political moment of the day, aside from the actual primary results. Or it might not be. At least we’ll always have the memory of all these pork puns.
–Holly Bailey, 9:02 a.m. ET
We will update this page throughout primary day in South?Carolina with scenes, videos, photographs, observations and insights from the four Yahoo News reporters on the campaign trail in the state. Come back for more!
Read more coverage of the?2012 South Carolina primary at Yahoo News.
Other popular Yahoo! News stories:
? Mailing it in: In South Carolina, a trip to the post office says everything about the campaign
? Romney team happy–but not too happy–on victory night: Scenes from the New Hampshire primary
? Close call leads Romney to ditch teleprompter in favor of familiar speech: Scenes from the Iowa caucuses
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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_theticket/20120121/el_yblog_theticket/romney-and-gingrich-in-hamgate-scenes-from-the-south-carolina-primary
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