Gingrich Storms to SC Victory, Scrambling GOP Race Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich stormed to an upset victory in the South Carolina primary Saturday night, dealing a sharp setback to former front-runner Mitt Romney and abruptly scrambling the race for the Republican presidential nomination. In victory, Gingrich praised his Republican rivals and attacked President Barack Obama and "elites in New York and Washington." Obama is "the most effective food stamp president in history," he said. Those declarations and his attack on the "elite news media" reprised two of his more memorable lines from a pair of debates that helped fuel his victory. Exit polls showed he led among voters who said their top priority was picking a candidate who could beat Obama - a group that had preferred Romney in earlier contests in Iowa and New Hampshire. Romney, the national front-runner until now, was unbowed. He vowed to contest for every vote "in every state," an acknowledgement that the race would likely be a long one. He also unleashed a double-barreled attack on Obama and Gingrich. Referring to Gingrich's criticism of his business experience, Romney said, "When my opponents attack success and free enterprise, they're not only attacking me, they're attacking every person who dreams of a better future. He's attacking you," he told supporters, the closest he came to mentioning the primary winner's name. Republican presidential candidate and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich takes part in a TV interview during a campaign event at the Grapevine Restaurant in Spartanburg, S.C., on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, the unpredictable voting day of the South Carolina presidential primary. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Close Returns from 95 percent of the state's precincts showed Gingrich with 41 percent of the vote to 27 percent for Romney. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum was winning 17 percent, Texas Rep. Ron Paul 13 percent. As the first Southern primary, South Carolina has been a proving ground for Republican presidential hopefuls in recent years. Since Ronald Reagan in 1980, every Republican contender who won the primary has gone on to capture the party's nomination. Nearly 600,000 voters turned out, according to an AP estimate. That eclipses the previous record turnout for the primary in 2000, when George W. Bush defeated John McCain Based on the vote total, Gingrich won at least 15 of the 25 Republican National Convention delegates at stake and none of the other contenders was yet assured of any. But political momentum was the real prize with the race to pick an opponent to Obama still in its early stages. Already, Romney and a group that supports him were on the air in Florida with a significant television ad campaign, more than $7 million combined to date. Gingrich readily conceded that he trails in money, and even before appearing for his victory speech he tweeted supporters thanking them and appealing for a flood of donations for the Jan 31 primary. Help me deliver the knockout punch in Florida. Join our Moneybomb and donate now," said his tweet. Aides to the former Massachusetts governor had once dared hope that Florida would seal his nomination - if South Carolina didn't first - but that strategy appeared to vanish along with the once-formidable lead he held in pre-primary polls. Romney swept into South Carolina 11 days ago as the favorite after being pronounced the winner of the lead-off Iowa caucuses, then cruising to victory in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary.