Race Turns to South Carolina Following Romney Win

The GOP presidential campaign is moving on from a state that has legalized marriage equality to one where nearly four out of five voters in 2007 approved a constitutional amendment to ban it.

Granted, one year later a more moderate Republican candidate, John McCain, prevailed in South Carolina over his social conservative rival, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. But while concerns over jobs and the economy reign supreme among voters in 2012, a solid performance with Christian conservatives remains key to picking up the state's 24 delegates.

Mitt Romney's widely expected victory Tuesday night in New Hampshire further affirms what many consider to be an inevitable Republican nomination for the former Massachusetts governor, but comes amid scrutiny about his past record as an executive and the validity of his claims that he would "not discriminate" against gays if he were elected.

Log Cabin Republicans executive director R. Clarke Cooper called out Romney's support for a federal marriage amendment but otherwise congratulated the candidate on his double-digit win, saying in a statement that Romney "has established himself as a candidate who can unite Republicans and [is] a clear threat to Barack Obama in November."

The South Carolina primary on January 21 is particularly crucial for Rick Santorum, whose late campaigning in New Hampshire failed to deliver him the support he enjoyed a week ago in Iowa. But one national LGBT group warned Tuesday that a vice presidential nod for the antigay politician is not out of the question.

In a virtual tie with Newt Gingrich for fourth place behind Romney, Ron Paul, and Jon Huntsman, Santorum was dogged by voters and the media alike throughout New Hampshire for his anti-marriage equality position. Surrounded by local supporters including Karen Testerman, a well-known anti-gay marriage advocate in the state, Santorum vowed in Manchester on Tuesday night, "On to South Carolina."

The Obama campaign continues its laser focus on Romney in the fight for LGBT votes, seeking to juxtapose Romney's assertions that he would not discriminate against LGBT Americans with political actions to the contrary -- including his signing of a pledge from the National Organization for Marriage that mandates candidates to "vigorously defend the federal Defense of Marriage Act" and support a federal marriage amendment, among other criteria.

"Anybody who has signed this pledge sends a terrible signal, so I'm concerned," said openly gay Republican candidate Fred Karger, who campaigned frequently in New Hampshire and has often sought to antagonize both Romney's campaign and NOM.

On Monday, the Obama camp also pounced on Romney after one of his spokesmen claimed that the candidate had nothing to do with a 2002 gay pride festival flier bearing Romney's name and declaring that, "All citizens deserve equal rights, regardless of their sexual preference."

"What on that flier does Mitt Romney disagree with?" Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt said. "Does he not believe all Americans should have equal rights? Who is he trying to pander to now?"

A former campaign intern has since come forward and contradicted the Romney spokesman, telling the Huffington Post that he and others were directed to distribute the flier during pride festivals in Boston.

Meanwhile, Santorum continued to tell voters in New Hampshire that he's no extremist on LGBT issues, even claiming that President Obama supports his ideas.

"Everyone on the stage yesterday and the day before has pretty much the exact same position I have on all those issues," Santorum said on the campaign trail. "President Obama says he has the same position I have on gay marriage, so the only difference between myself and any of them is that when someone asks me a question, I answer it."

On Tuesday, White House spokesman Jay Carney disagreed with the conflation of the president's views with Santorum's positions.

"I think that you know and others here know and understand his position broadly on LGBT issues is quite significantly different from that particular candidate's views," said Carney in response to a question from Metro Weekly.

The Human Rights Campaign considers the specter of Santorum's name on a GOP ticket so troublesome that it sent an e-mail to supporters Tuesday that warned of the possibility he might be chosen to run as vice president.

"Make no mistake: even if Rick Santorum loses the Republican nomination, he could very well become Mitt Romney's running mate," said HRC outgoing president Joe Solmonese. "Why Santorum? Simple. He would motivate millions of right-wing voters and volunteers on Election Day."

The Log Cabin Republicans dismissed such a scenario. "Rick Santorum will not be on the Republican ticket this November, neither as the nominee nor as a running mate," Log Cabin deputy executive director Christian Berle wrote to The Advocate via e-mail. "His presence on the ticket would be a drag on the party and a turnoff to moderate and independent voters."

GOProud exective director Jimmy LaSalvia, who last week personally endorsed Romney, called the candidate's Tuesday night victory "good news for all Americans -- both gay and straight -- struggling to make ends meet in this failed Obama economy and bad news for the President's re-election prospects."

But in the flurry of post-Romney victory statements released Tuesday evening, Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz attacked Romney's job-creation mantra while at Bain Capital and argued that support of the candidate is in free fall.

"He leaves here wounded by a series of episodes that made it clear to voters -- both in New Hampshire and for those watching around the country -- that he is completely out of touch with the concerns of America's working and middle-class families," Wasserman Schultz said.