Carolina battle may decide GOP nomination race

REPUBLICAN presidential contenders brought buckets of cash and sharp rhetoric to South Carolina yesterday for an intense 10-day battle that may determine whether any candidate can stop Mitt Romney’s march to the party’s nomination.

Despite fierce attacks from his rivals, the former Massachusetts governor captured New Hampshire’s primary 16 percentage points ahead of the rest of the field on Tuesday to go two-for-two at the start of the Republican nomination race after his narrow victory in Iowa’s caucuses a week earlier.

The victory felt “like Christmas Day”, Romney told reporters as his plane left for South Carolina.