137 days ago 
 
 Charleston, South Carolina (CNN) - With three days to go until the first-in-the south primary, Mitt Romney remains in the lead in the Palmetto State, but according to a new poll, his advantage over Newt Gingrich is rapidly shrinking. 
 
 A CNN/Time/ORC International poll indicates that 33% of likely South Carolina Republican primary voters say they are backing Romney, with 23% supporting Gingrich. The former Massachusetts governor's 10 point advantage over the former House speaker is down from a 19 point lead two weeks ago. According to the survey, former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania is at 16%, Rep. Ron Paul of Texas is at 13%, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry stands at 6%. 
 
 See full results (pdf) 
 
 Tune in Thursday at 8 p.m. ET for the CNN/Southern Republican Presidential Debate hosted by John King and follow it on Twitter at #CNNDebate. For real-time coverage of the South Carolina primary, go to CNNPolitics.com or to the CNN apps or CNN mobile web site. 
 
 
 
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 The survey was released Wednesday, on the eve of a CNN-Southern Republican presidential debate, the final showdown for the candidates before Saturday's primary, the third contest in the primary and caucus calendar. And the poll came on the same day that Romney and his campaign appeared to step up their attacks on Gingrich. 
 
 "Gingrich appears to be the only candidate with momentum as the race in South Carolina enters the final few days," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "Support for Romney and Santorum appears to be slipping, and Paul and Perry seem flat. Gingrich, however, has gained ground and cut Romney's lead in half since early January." 
 
 "All of Gingrich's increased support comes among tea party movement supporters, where he's at 31% support, up ten points from early January," adds Holland. "That suggests that Sarah Palin's remarks urging South Carolina voters to choose Gingrich may have a receptive audience." 
 
 Among voters who oppose the tea party or are neutral towards it, Romney holds a commanding 30 point lead over Gingrich and the rest of the field of candidates. The survey indicates that born-again Christians are divided, with 26% supporting Romney, 23% backing Gingrich, and 20% saying they'll vote for Santorum. Among those likely primary voters who don't identify themselves as born-again, Romney has a large lead. 
 
 Nearly all the interviews were conducted before the Palin's Tuesday night remarks and before Monday night's presidential debate. Most pundits agree that Gingrich had a strong performance at the debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C. At the same showdown, Romney came under attack by his rivals for hedging on whether he would release his tax returns. 
 
 The Thursday night CNN debate could further influence South Carolina voters. And with more than four in ten likely primary voters saying that they could still change their minds between now and Saturday, a last minute surge for one candidate or another could materialize. 
 
 Florida's GOP presidential primary follows South Carolina's contest by ten days. A CNN/Time/ORC International poll of likely Sunshine State primary voters indicates that Romney still has a commanding lead, with more likely voters in his camp than Santorum and Gingrich combined. According to the survey, which was also released Tuesday, Romney stood at 43%, with Santorum at 19%, Gingrich 18%, Paul 9% and Perry at 2%. 
 
 "As in South Carolina, Romney does better among voters who do not support the tea party and those who do not consider themselves born-again Christians. In fact, he finishes second to Santorum among born-again voters," says Holland. "But, as with South Carolina, more than four in ten Florida voters have not made up their minds, and with the all-important South Carolina primary still in the future, the poll does not stand as a prediction of what will happen in Florida." 
 
 The poll in South Carolina was conducted for CNN and Time magazine by ORC International from January 13-17, with 505 voters who are likely to vote in the Republican primary questioned by telephone. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus 4.5 percentage points. 
 
 The poll in Florida was conducted for CNN and Time magazine by ORC International from January 13-17, with 391 voters who are likely to vote in that state's Republican primary. The survey's overall sampling error is plus or minus five percentage points. 
 
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 ROCK HILL, S.C. — Clear signs Mitt Romney is again worried about Newt Gingrich: He released two new negative web videos, unleashed attacking surrogates and even went after the former House speaker himself. 
 
 And that was all before lunch on Wednesday. 
 
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 Romney hasn’t engaged directly since December, when he scrambled to stop Gingrich’s sudden surge to the top of the polls. But Romney’s campaign feels Gingrich’s new momentum — and isn’t concerned about a credible challenge from Rick Santorum — and they’re eager to cut him off now so he doesn’t remain a problem past Saturday’s primary. Romney’s hoping a win then will eliminate Gingrich as a contender and help him wrap up the nomination early. 
 
 Romney led the charge himself, even saying Gingrich’s name aloud from the stage, which he rarely does. 
 
 After a digression about how he expects Barack Obama to campaign against his record running Bain Capital, Romney brought the argument to Gingrich. 
 
 “Some Republicans have jumped on that bandwagon. Recognize, its not the way to build a strong economy to tear down fellow Americans or to attack capitalism,” Romney said. “My goodness, I listened to Speaker Gingrich the other night talking about the enterprises that I’m associated with, I’m proud of the fact that I’ve worked in the private sector, that I’ve achieved success, that we were able to build jobs in America and I’m going to keep using that experience to make sure that we build jobs for the entire country.” 
 
 Romney’s comments followed a day of emails fired off by his campaign attacking Gingrich’s positions of free enterprise and a morning event where he attacked Gingrich unprompted and at length in front of a crowd of about 300 people under a warm sun at Wofford College in Spartanburg. 
 
 “I was disappointed over the last couple of weeks to see one of my opponents attacking free enterprise, just like the president was,” Romney said. “That’s not the role of the Republican Party, that makes us sad.” 
 
 Then he twisted the knife, comparing Gingrich with one of the right’s favorite boogeymen. 
 
 “You know, the speaker just the other day at the debate was talking about how he created millions of jobs when he was working with the Reagan administration. Well, he’d been in Congress two years when Ronald Reagan came to office,” Romney said. “That would be like saying 435 congressmen were all responsible for those jobs. Government doesn’t create jobs. It’s the private sector that creates jobs. Congressmen taking responsibility or taking credit for helping create jobs is like Al Gore taking credit for the Internet.” 
 
 Acknowledging the rave reviews Gingrich garnered for his debate performance Monday night, a Romney campaign source told POLITICO on Wednesday that the attacks on Gingrich are coming because he is “the one left who can go the longest.” 
 
 “South Carolina is like Iowa — an opportunity that we never thought we would get,” the source said. “If you dust Newt up there so that Santorum stays alive, Newt gets no traction heading into Florida, where he has no structure, and then into a month, February, where there is no obvious good state. Points fell off Newt fast when voters were reminded of his entirety, not just his facility as a debate presence.” 
 
 The source said the Romney campaign’s goal in South Carolina remains the 34 percent John McCain won here in 2008, which the campaign estimates will be enough to win, so long as conservatives don’t consolidate around either Gingrich or Santorum. And the campaign is not worried about Santorum. 
 
 The source said Romney’s internal polling for South Carolina shows the former Massachusetts governor in the “low 30s,” with other candidates in the low 20s or high teens. That tracks with a CNN/Time/ORC poll released Wednesday afternoon had Romney at 33 percent and Gingrich at 23 percent — though most of the polling done over the days preceding Monday’s debate.
– Mitt Romney's once-comfortable lead in South Carolina isn't so comfortable anymore. A new CNN/Time poll has him ahead of Newt Gingrich 33-23, a marked difference from his 19-point lead two weeks ago. Rick Santorum (16), Ron Paul (13), and Rick Perry (6) bring up the rear. "Gingrich appears to be the only candidate with momentum," says CNN's polling chief. The Romney campaign apparently is getting antsy because it went after Gingrich directly today, with two negative web videos and a shot from Romney himself, notes Politico. The Romney barb: “You know, the speaker just the other day at the debate was talking about how he created millions of jobs when he was working with the Reagan administration. Well, he’d been in Congress two years when Ronald Reagan came to office. That would be like saying 435 congressmen were all responsible for those jobs. Government doesn’t create jobs. It’s the private sector that creates jobs. Congressmen taking responsibility or taking credit for helping create jobs is like Al Gore taking credit for the Internet.” As for Gingrich, he thinks he can be the nominee if he wins the state.