Callie Shell for TIME Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is joined by Sen. John McCain, right, and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, center, during a rally at Charles Towne Landing in Charleston, South Carolina, Jan. 5, 2012. 
 
 In another sign of the front runner’s growing strength, Mitt Romney has taken the lead in South Carolina, according to a TIME/CNN/ORC poll released Friday. 
 
 The poll, which surveyed likely primary voters on Wednesday and Thursday, found Romney commanding 37% support, a 17-point gain since early December. He’s not the only one carrying momentum out of Iowa’s photo finish. Rick Santorum has surged 15 points, to 19%, picking up the largest chunk of Newt Gingrich’s shattered coalition. The former Speaker is still in the hunt with 18%, but that’s down from 43% in December. 
 
 Ron Paul’s share has doubled, to 12%, while Rick Perry’s has dwindled to a mere 5%. 
 
 The new data, which come a little more than two weeks before the Palmetto primary, confirm the broader contours of the GOP race. Romney’s solid position is strengthened by the splintering effect produced by his rivals — his 37% support is equal to that of Santorum’s and Gingrich’s combined. The largest remaining threat to Romney is a conservative bloc coalesced behind one candidate. 
 
 As of Friday, that simply isn’t happening. Romney is getting solid shares of born-again Christians (35%), Tea Party supporters (32%) and self-described conservatives (37%). This is, however, South Carolina, notoriously one of the nastiest political battlefields in the U.S., and the anonymous backstabbing, radio spots, church fliers and super-PAC attack ads have yet to saturate the state. And a 49% plurality of likely voters said they are still open to changing their minds. A New Hampshire surprise could tilt expectations. Santorum might just need more time. But for now, everything’s coming up Romney. 
 
 Methodology: The poll surveyed 1,519 adults, including 485 likely voters, by telephone on Jan. 4 and 5. The sample was weighted to reflect statewide Census figures for gender, race, age, education and region of the state, and it carries an error margin of ±4.5 points. 

 Romney campaign advisers insist that they are moving forward one state at a time and not taking any contest for granted. Yet Republican observers see Romney executing an ambitious strategy that would quickly maximize his momentum and try to quash any further surges by his rivals. 
 
 “If Romney wins the first four states, he’ll be the de facto nominee of the party,” said Steve Schmidt, a senior strategist on Sen. John McCain’s 2008 GOP campaign who is unaffiliated in the current race. Ed Rogers, another unaffiliated Republican strategist, said the notion that Romney may wrap up the nomination by Jan. 31 is “perfectly plausible.” 
 
 The new Romney push hinges on his performance in South Carolina, a more traditionally conservative state where he finished fourth in 2008 and until recently appeared to face an uphill fight. But South Carolina’s conservatives do not yet appear to be uniting around a single alternative, opening a path to victory by plurality. A poll released Friday showed Romney with an 18-point lead in the state over his closest opponent, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, who had 19 percent support; former House speaker Newt Gingrich followed at 18 percent. 
 
 Romney is airing television advertisements across South Carolina, the most recent highlighting his opposition to the National Labor Relations Board’s unsuccessful attempts to prevent Boeing from moving its operations to the state to avoid dealing with unionized workers elsewhere. On Thursday afternoon, Romney swooped into Charleston and Conway for an 18-hour campaign swing with McCain, who won the South Carolina primary in 2008 on his way to the nomination. McCain has been calling his supporters there urging them to get behind Romney. 
 
 “He’s gonna win in New Hampshire, and it’s gonna come down, my friends, as it always does, to South Carolina,” McCain (Ariz.) said Friday. 
 
 Other surrogates, including New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, will visit South Carolina before the Jan. 21 primary, while some of Romney’s Iowa staff members have begun relocating there. Romney plans to return next week. “As soon as New Hampshire’s over, he’ll be living here,” said South Carolina Treasurer Curtis Loftis, Romney’s state chairman. 
 
 Romney is also reaching out to tea party activists with an electability message. Loftis addressed a tea party rally in Greenville this week, while South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is mobilizing the grass-roots network she assembled for her 2010 race. Loftis said he cut a radio advertisement on Romney’s behalf, along with Haley and conservative commentator Ann Coulter.
– The Washington Post says the Romney campaign is "quietly shifting gears" toward a new goal: Lock up the nomination by the end of January. The scenario: Cruise as expected Tuesday in New Hampshire, then rack up wins in South Carolina on Jan. 21 and in Florida on Jan. 31. "If Romney wins the first four states, he’ll be the de facto nominee of the party,” says former John McCain campaign strategist Steve Schmidt. (The story quotes others, also unaffiliated with the Romney camp, saying much the same.) Toward that end, the campaign is rolling out big money and big endorsements in South Carolina, where polls have him in front—Time/CNN has him up 37% to 19% on Santorum, though Rasmussen sees a narrower lead. The campaign—which is publicly dismissing talk of a quick lockdown of the nomination—also has begun a heavy ad blitz in Florida.