Republican Mitt Romney announced yesterday that he will release his tax returns this Sunday, bowing to pressure from critics and hoping to make up for the mistake that allowed his rival Newt Gingrich to win a landslide victory in South Carolina.
With the convincing victory of Gingrich in this federal state, the fight for the Republican presidential nomination took a new turn.
Long considered the front-runner to challenge President Barack Obama in November's election, Romney fared badly in the debates last Sunday when his rival came under fire for failing to disclose how much he pays in taxes, Reuters reported.
He thus lost the image of the inevitable Republican candidate he had built up after narrowly losing in Iowa and winning in New Hampshire earlier this month.
Gingrich won 41 percent of the vote, far behind Romney with 27 percent, Rick Santorum with 17 and Ron Paul with 13 percent of the Republican vote.
In South Carolina, Republican elections since 1980 have always been won by the party's final candidate.
It is estimated that Gingrich's victory was significantly contributed by Thursday's televised debate in which he fiercely attacked Romney.
As many as two-thirds of Republican voters in South Carolina say the debate had a decisive impact on who they will vote for. Also, 55 percent of voters made their decision in the last three days before the election, and 18 percent on the day of the election.
Gingrich's victory this time, unlike the Iowa and New Hampshire elections, was significantly influenced by the support of the Tea Party movement. Four Republican congressmen and the governor of South Carolina are associated with the movement, and surveys show that as many as 34 percent of Republican voters in that state strongly support the movement.
The American media estimate that the fact that South Carolina is a conservative evangelical state, where the Mormon Romney did not have much of a chance, also helped Gingrich.
Romney has been in the lead so far, as three candidates are vying for the votes of conservative voters. With Texas Governor Rick Perry out of the race and Santorum's poor showing in South Carolina, it looks like Gingrich will pick up all the votes of the Republican right wing.
On the other hand, it is estimated that Romney has a better organization and more money for the campaign, which Gingrich also referred to last night.
"We don't have as much money as at least one of the other candidates. But we have ideas. We have people too. And we've proven here in South Carolina that people with the right ideas win. And with your help, we will prove it again in Florida," the AP agency reported Gingrich's message after his victory was announced.
Gungrich said in his speech that it was a victory over the elites in Washington and New York.
He again called Obama the most effective president on food stamps, alluding to the large number of poor Americans who feed on them.
"I would like to be the highest paying president," Gingrich added.
The next party election will be in Florida on January 31st.
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