Since my last post following Newt Gingrich’s success at the South Carolina primary, the roller-coaster that is the Republican party presidential nomination race has continued hurtling along.

Mitt Romney comfortably won Florida and then Nevada and increasingly looked likely to be the next Republican nominee.

The Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado primary and caucuses yesterday has again tipped the battle back on it’s head.  Rick Santorum swept up all states, winning every county in Missouri.

Read more in the Huff Post here.

“Free-love” advocate, Newt Gingrich recorded a very good win in South Carolina last night.   The results courtesy of the Huffington Post are shown below.  This leaves the candidacy race wide open as we head towards the Florida primary on the 31st January.

I’ll be watching the primary in South Carolina today with interest.  ”We pick presidents” the saying goes down in South Carolina and if Mitt Romney wins he will surely be clear favourite for the nomination.

But it is not so clear a ride for Ronmey who has slipped up from being the clear favourite to win the state primary.  Newt Gingrich and now even Rick Santorum are looking for a piece of the action - if either of these win, the race will be wide open.  And of course Ron Paul will get his 10% slice of votes.

They say Jon Huntsman dropping out should give Mitt a boost but as a neutral I hope Newt wins - perhaps picking up the 2% Perry would have won. This will have 3 winners in the first 3 states now it turns out Ricky took Iowa.

Here are the dates of the GOP primaries leading up to the summer!

January 3  
Iowa (caucus)

January 10
New Hampshire (primary)

January 21
South Carolina (primary)

January 31
Florida (primary)

February 4
Nevada (caucus)

February 4-11
Maine (caucus)

February 7
Colorado (caucus)
Minnesota (caucus)
Missouri (primary)

February 28
Arizona (primary)
Michigan (primary)

March 3
Washington (caucus)

March 6 (Super Tuesday)
Alaska (caucus)
Georgia (primary)
Idaho (caucus)
Massachusetts (primary)
North Dakota (caucus)
Ohio (primary)
Oklahoma (primary)
Tennessee (primary)
Vermont (primary)
Virginia (primary)

March 6-10
Wyoming (caucus)

March 10
Kansas (caucus)
U.S. Virgin Islands (caucus)

March 13
Alabama (primary)
Hawaii (caucus)
Mississippi (primary)

March 17
Missouri (GOP caucus)

March 20
Illinois (primary)

March 24
Louisiana (primary)

April 3
District of Columbia (primary)
Maryland (primary)
Wisconsin (primary)
Texas (primary)

April 24
Connecticut (primary)
Delaware (primary)
New York (primary)
Pennsylvania (primary)
Rhode Island (primary)

May 8
Indiana (primary)
North Carolina (primary)
West Virginia (primary)

May 15
Nebraska (primary)
Oregon (primary)

May 22
Arkansas (primary)
Kentucky (primary)

June 5
California (primary)
Montana (primary)
New Jersey (primary)
New Mexico (primary)
South Dakota (primary)

June 26, 2012
Utah (primary)