South Carolina primary: Romney and Gingrich now set for Obama v Clinton-style battle It could easily come to resemble the epic tussle between Mr Obama and Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination in 2008 that was not concluded until June. What will be crucial for the Republican hopefuls is not just winning primaries and caucuses but the delegate count. Each state awards delegates - more than 2,286 in total - who then attend the party convention in the late summer to officially select the nominee. The Republicans have changed their rules, and half of the 50 states will award delegates on a proportional representation basis, rather than the winner-takes-all system. In a close result, the winner can come away with only a handful more delegates than the runner-up. Despite the hullabaloo, there have only been three primaries out of 50 so far and only 72 delegates allocated. Mr Romney leads with 33, with Mr Gingrich on 21. The magic simple majority delegate number is a distant 1,144. The race might not only be long but ugly. The Romney campaign thought it had dealt with Mr Gingrich through a series of negative advertisements in Iowa released by friendly groups attacking him for "having more baggage than the airlines." Every weakness will now be probed and exposed again, from the former Speaker's three marriages to his accepting $1.6 million (£1 million) in consulting fees from two housing boards that he had criticised as symbols of big government failure. In his speech on Saturday night, Mr Romney outlined future lines of attack, branding his rival as a creature of the Washington culture he professes to loath. Mr Gingrich, for his part, will hope the money and the volunteers start flowing in to his lean, shambolic campaign. In a somewhat tame acceptance speech, he began by asking his supporters to "call anyone you know in Florida" and ask for help. There is a long haul ahead, he will need it.