With a candidate all the pundits (including yours truly) were writing off, Newt Gingrich pulled off a stunning and resolute victory over presidential candidate Mitt Romney in South Carolina on Sunday.

The turning point for this primary was during a debate held mid week by CNN. Newt Gingrich should thank host John King for asking the inevitable “open marriage” question. Gingrich fired back with a solid defence and it struck a tone with voters in South Carolina. On the other hand Mitt Romney dithered and soft-shoe shuffled around his personal tax returns and looked like a deer in the headlights.

TV Debates historically can make or break a candidate and provide famous moments. In 1961 Richard Nixon’s nervous, sweating top lip compared to the cross legged, relaxed John Kennedy. 1980 Ronald Reagan’s “There you go again” line v Jimmy Carter,  1988 VP canidate Lloyd Bentsen’s “You're No Jack Kennedy” to Dan Quayle on comparing himself to JFK.

Gingrich’s “No, but I will” response to King’s marriage question will join those moments in debate folklore. The audience roared with support and so did voters big-time.

Gingrich targeted the “elite” media and they deserve it. We see them on the campaign trail, all coiffured and pampered with personal assistants and researchers. Some never leave their studios and you rarely see them in the “pleb class”. You do see guys like Newshour regulars Mark Shields & Gwen Ifill right amongst it, but on the whole the Wolf Blitzers & Bill O’Reilly’s are to be found in the TV studio powder puff rooms rather than on a campaign desk.

Conservative folks deem the media biased towards the left, and with good reason. Brought up in a world of academia dominated by progressive / leftist intellectuals, the majority of the media in the US are a cheer squad for Obama. Gingrich was right to condemn the timing and nature of the King question. Herman Cain suffered from a similar type of interrogation.

Interestingly during Democrat John Edwards’s 2008 campaign, questions were raised by the rather dubious National Enquirer about an extra-martial affair which was eventually proven. Edwards is facing a suspended court hearing (due to ill health) on campaign finance violations. Somehow that little scenario was kept under tight wraps throughout the 2008 campaign.

Yet Gingrich is over scrutinised for something that was ended legitimately.

Gingrich cant rely solely on beating upon unreasonable media, but it sure does help your cause with campaigns living and dying by media.

Fmr House Speaker Newt Gingrich was basically a curiosity in Iowa in August 2011. He now is a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination

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