South Carolina

South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, a Republican, will appoint a new senator to take the seat of GOP senator Jim DeMint, who was reelected in 2010 and will be resigning early next year to become president of the Heritage Foundation. Sources in South Carolina say Haley will pick Charleston-area congressman Tim Scott, and, if not him, state representative Ralph Norman is considered the next most likely candidate for the job. 

With Republican Jim DeMint’s resignation from the Senate, Republicans now have a chance to take a bold and politically beneficial step by making Congressman Tim Scott the new senator from South Carolina.

Fox News just projected that Mitt Romney will win South Carolina.

South Carolina attorney general Alan Wilson released the following statement in response to the Supreme Court's ruling today on Obamacare:

South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, a Republican, would decline an offer to be the vice presidential nominee, she tells ABC:

Courtesy of one friend, an old pro, three perhaps overlooked points in the sea of analysis of South Carolina and beyond:

Columbia, S.C.
It’s just past 7 p.m., only minutes after the polls closed, and the networks have already called this state’s primary for Newt Gingrich. The mood is jubilant in the Palmetto State ballroom at the downtown Hilton. Behind the stage a campaign sign has been raised with a new message: “Unleash the American People to Rebuild the America We Love.” Groups of supporters gather nearby to chant for the news cameras.

Mitt Romney needs a big idea. And it’s not the one he cited at the beginning of his speech after his humiliating loss to Newt Gingrich in the South Carolina primary Saturday. Executive experience matters, Romney said. He has it and Gingrich, like President Obama, doesn’t.

Here's video of Newt Gingrich's victory speech, delivered this evening in South Carolina: 

Newt Gingrich has not yet delivered his victory speech tonight in South Carolina, but he has delivered a strong message to his rivals via Twitter. "Thank you South Carolina! Help me deliver the knockout punch in Florida," Gingrich tweeted. "Join our Moneybomb and donate now."

As the polls close in South Carolina tonight, NBC News is able to project that Newt Gingrich will be the winner of the Republican primary in the first Southern state to vote. 

UPDATE: CNN reports: "Exit polls show Newt Gingrich leading Mitt Romney, 38% to 29% among voters who spoke with network exit poll interviewers."

UPDATE II: Fox and ABC have also called South Carolina for Newt. (Clarification: CNN has not yet called the race, but has released the exit poll numbers.)

Orangeburg, S.C.
Speaking with reporters after a town hall event, Newt Gingrich scoffed at a request from Mitt Romney's campaign to release the “complete record” of the House ethics investigation of Gingrich when he was speaker.