Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Here is video of Rick Santorum speaking in South Carolina after finishing a distant third in the GOP South Carolina Primary. Santorum vowed to keep his campaign going, moving on to Florida and beyond. There is sure to be a lot of pressure on him to end his campaign to help ensure Mitt Romney does not become the nominee.

One more poll out this morning as South Carolinians go to the polls to vote in the GOP Presidential Primary there – and it is a stunner.

American Research Group shows Newt Gingrich with a 14 point lead over Mitt Romney in their final poll out of South Carolina. Gingrich leads 40%-26%, with Ron Paul in third with 18%, and Rick Santorum in last place with 13%.

ARG joins Public Policy Polling in showing Gingrich pulling away as voting begin. It’s hard to believe Newt could win by anywhere close to double-digits, considering he trailed by double-digits just a week ago. But he certainly has momentum. It will be interesting to see how strongly he finishes, and whether Rick Santorum can beat out Ron Paul for third place.

This poll moves Gingrich to a six point lead over Romney in the 3-Day Average of polls from South Carolina. We’ll see how close that is to the final margin.

Watch complete video of the Debate.

Tonight’s GOP Presidential Debate on CNN just ended, and it was a shootout for two hours.

The most significant moment of the night came right at the beginning, when CNN’s John King began by asking Newt Gingrich about an interview his ex-wife, Marianne, has given to ABC News. Newt Gingrich was outraged, and just blasted John King for beginning a Presidential Debate with such a question. He took the opportunity to blast the liberal media and their constant attempts to protect Barack Obama by attacking Republican candidates. Gingrich got two standing ovations from the audience!

Everything else was pretty anti-climactic after that. On points, I thought all four candidates actually did very well. They each got some good points in and some strong hits on the other candidates. Rick Santorum clearly was trying to tear down Newt Gingrich tonight – as well as Mitt Romney. He tried to paint Gingrich as unstable and not trustworthy as the nominee. But Gingrich responded effectively by reminding everyone that he was the architect of the Republican Revolution in 1994 and Santorum was an understudy.

Santorum knew this was his chance to make the case that he should be the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. He worked hard at it, and was effective, but I don’t think he did enough to derail Gingrich. If the opening five minutes had not taken place, he would come out of this debate in a stronger position. But it did happen, and Gingrich will benefit from it.

I actually think this was Ron Paul’s best debate. He did not get to speak as often as the others, but when he did, he made some good points and got some jabs in on the other candidates. He took Rick Santorum to task for questioning his pro-life commitment, which Paul said should be dealt with primarily at the state rather than the Federal level.

I thought Mitt Romney was stronger tonight than he was on Monday night, but not enough to overshadow Gingrich’s opening 5 minutes. He did not hurt himself – except for his unwillingness once again to commit to releasing his taxes. I am mystified by how Romney is dealing with this issue. It’s hurting him, confirming the worst fears of GOP voters about him – that they might not can trust him and that he has something to hide. Romney has unwittingly given his GOP opponents a big club to beat him over the head with – and they have done it.

So, coming out of this debate, I think it is going to be a real horse race to win South Carolina between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. I would guess right now that Gingrich will win, unless something really new and devastating emerges about Gingrich from his ex-wife’s “Nightline” interview tonight. I would look for Santorum to gain some strength, but not nearly enough to challenge for the victory in South Carolina. Ron Paul is likely to take third place in South Carolina. I think he only helped himself with this debate. Grades: Gingrich A-, Santorum B+, Paul B+, Romney B.

How would you grade the candidates in this debate?

UPDATE: Watch complete video of the Debate.

The final four GOP Presidential Candidates will square-off tonight in a crucial debate on CNN just ahead of Saturday’s South Carolina Primary. The debate will air at 8:00 PM ET on CNN.

With the departure of Rick Perry from the race today, it will allow for more time for each candidate to respond to questions. You can expect Newt Gingrich to continue being aggressive and try to repeat his performance in Monday night’s debate. He will become more of a target, likely from Rick Santorum, who has fallen well back of Gingrich in the battle to become the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. Santorum has to try and bring Gingrich down. If he finishes a distant third or fourth in South Carolina, it’s hard to see a winning way forward for him in the race.

Mitt Romney must have a better performance than he did on Monday. He needs to be aggressive and must have a clear answer on the tax questions he will face. You can also expect CNN to work in questions for Newt Gingrich about the interview his ex-wife, Marianne, has given to ABC News. Gingrich could try to turn this into a plus by attacking the media, saying this is a perfect example of how the media goes after conservatives any way they can – and that they will stoop to any low.

It should be a combative debate as the stakes are high and time is short for candidates to improve their standing.

It’s now four new polls in South Carolina that show Newt Gingrich leading Mitt Romney, just two days ahead of the GOP Primary there.

Public Policy Polling and American Reasearch Group can be added to Insider Advantage and Rasmussen in showing Gingrich surging into the lead. The PPP Poll gives Gingrich a six-point lead over Romney, and they all shows Rick Santorum falling way back, with Ron Paul in third place at around 15% support.

The new polls now have moved Gingrich into a one-point lead in the 3-Day average of polls from South Carolina.

BREAKING: CNN is reporting that sources say Texas Gov. Rick Perry will drop out of the GOP Presidential race today before tonight’s CNN GOP Presidential Debate in South Carolina. No reports yet on whether he will make an endorsement as he withdraws from the race:

CNN: Rick Perry is telling supporters that he will drop his bid Thursday for the Republican presidential nomination, two sources familiar with his plans told CNN.

The Texas governor will make the announcement before the CNN debate in South Carolina, the sources said.

The South Carolina primary takes place Saturday.

Perry had poor showings in Iowa and New Hampshire, and had said he would launch a bid to win in South Carolina. . . .

UPDATE 9:42 AM ET: Fox News is reporting that Perry will endorse Newt Gingrich as he drops out of the race. Perry is scheduled to speak to the media at 11 AM ET in South Carolina.

Here is audio of conservative radio host Laura Ingraham on her show today where she urged Texas Gov. Rick Perry to drop out of the GOP Presidential race in order to help stop Mitt Romney from winning the nomination. She also played a “Robo Call” going out across South Carolina that plays audio of Rick Santorum’s endorsement in 2008 of Mitt Romney.