WASHINGTON (CNA/EWTN News).- The Republican presidential candidates urged fidelity to America’s founding principles as they spoke at the New Hampshire primary and turned their sights to the upcoming vote in South Carolina.
“In difficult times, we can’t abandon the core values that define us as a unique nation,” said N.H. primary winner Mitt Romney. “We are one nation under God.”
The candidates addressed Republican voters on Jan. 10, the evening of the nation’s first primary election in New Hampshire.
Economic issues dominated the speeches, as candidates promised to institute policies that would reduce the national debt and unemployment rates. But several candidates also appealed to faith in their talks.
Romney, who won almost 40% of the primary votes, said that the election is not merely about choosing a president, but about “saving the soul of America” from being fundamentally altered from its founding principles.
He vowed to undo what he called President Barack Obama’s harmful policies, arguing that “the last three years have held a lot of change, but they haven’t offered much hope.”
The GOP front-runner appealed to America’s faith in a better future, saying, “We still believe in that shining city on a hill.”
After a strong performance in Iowa, Rick Santorum won only about 10% of the votes in New Hampshire.
However, the former Pennsylvania senator promised to continue to “campaign in every single state,” working to promote a message based on “faith and family as the bedrock of our society.”
Santorum stressed the need to promote and protect families, which he said serve to “instill virtue and faith in our children” in order to solve problems in society.
Texas Congressman Ron Paul placed second in the state primary, capturing 23% of the vote.
In his speech, Paul insisted that he is the best candidate to protect liberty in America. He urged a return to the fundamental question, “What should the role of government be in a free society?”
Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who skipped the Iowa caucuses, came in third in New Hampshire, with approximately 17% of the vote.
Huntsman declared that third place is “a ticket to ride” and said he would remain in the contest and turn his attention to the upcoming South Carolina primary.
Candidates Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry both fell in their rankings, winning about 10% and 1% of the vote, respectively. Both candidates, however, vowed to continue the race.
Although Romney holds a steady lead as the Jan. 21 South Carolina primary approaches, recent polls indicate that Santorum may be closing in on him.
A Jan. 5 Rasmussen poll of likely South Carolina voters showed Santorum with 24% of the vote, up from just 1% two months ago.
The poll indicates that Romney has the support of 27% of likely voters in the state, while Gingrich comes in third, with 18%.
Recent polls by the American Research Group and Public Policy Polling also suggest that Santorum and Gingrich will surge ahead towards Romney in South Carolina, with the other candidates trailing significantly behind.
Tim Drake: Register Radio: Catholic Vote & EWTN Friars' 25th Anniversary
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i find it curious, and unfair, concerning your all too obvious snub of Speaker Gingrich who is a recent Catholic convert and who married a practising Catholic. And let’s acknowledge that the former Speaker has a much more formidable voice in this race than Gov Huntsman with whom you shared the tiniest mention in the very last section. Last, if you do a little more homework, there are some serious moral reasons why Gov ROmney should not be granted such spectacular attention at the others expense. Well, excepting Santorum who fools every Catholic major institution when he was well known in DC circles as the chief Republican lobbiest on K Street, who some articles say he even founded K Street lobbying in the Republican party, one of the chief reasons he was defeated in Pennsylvania, a topic he conveniently ignores, inspite of his piety. Whearas Gingrich, I believe, is the only one to go home justified because he is the only one to have said, in public, God be merciful to me a sinner! I was a wretch…..but with God’s help I’m am trying and hopeful with Callista of leading a decent Catholic life.
But as for my contention that there are some severe ethical and moral disqualifications for Gov Romney. Consider the real nature of what is known as Private Equity. Look closely at what PE is and does, where even the Chief Publisher of FOrbes Magazine says in prophetic warning that America does not want a Private Equity President, unless it wants someone who fits the mold of John Paul II’s categorization as the utterly ruthless side, the very sinful and excessive side of Capitalism - though we do not put the Free Enterprise System itself under trial. Put under trial is where in one of scores, in fact a majority of the cases that Bain Capital invested in, they put $30k in a company, but then charged $180k Consultancy Fees, which occured at the same time as stock manipulation, deliberately throwing thee company into debt and then picking it apart. Very ironic also that he is a Mormon bishop, who left the State of Massachusetts with the most accessibile and inexpensive $50 way to abortions, a unwieldy and mandated socialized health care system, and the first Gay Marriage legislation (When he could have vetoed it) in the entire country. Oh he also is in favour of “enhanced interrogation methods” and belongs essentially to a cult that teaches taking over America with beings (us) who can become gods like lucifer and jesus did (Who were brothers!).
It is time we fast and pray, because we need to beat Obama, a kind of antichrist of the Left, but not with Romney another antichrist but on the right. I feel genuinely blessed in supporting Gingrich, who I believe has the gravitas, the skills, and the Reaganite experience, spearheading the conservative transformations of Congress in the 80s and 90s which did so much to gell the economy, transform welfare, and balance the budget. Last, his corporate tax reduction and general economic plan has considerable more teeth to it, than the tepid and hesitent one of Romney, the man who, yes, also says his birth came about as a miracle!
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