Updated 10:04 p.m. ET

Newt Gingrich has won the South Carolina Republican primary, capping off a remarkable comeback for his presidential bid that reshapes the trajectory of the battle for the GOP nomination as the race now heads to Florida and beyond.

The results mark the end of a tumultuous week in politics that saw Gingrich erase and then overcome the lead former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney had in the Palmetto State following his victory in the Jan. 10 New Hampshire primary. Gingrich came on strong in the closing days of the campaign, looking to rally under his banner the many conservatives unwilling to get behind Romney, who had sought to posture himself as the eventual nominee.

"We don't have the kind of money at least one of the candidates has," Gingrich said in his victory remarks. "But we do have ideas and we do have people. And we proved here in South Carolina that people power with the right ideas beats big money."

VIEW full South Carolina primary results

Gingrich spent most of his speech Saturday night lashing out at "media elites" in New York and Washington, D.C., while castigating President Obama. He leaned on wonky explanations of policy to draw contrasts with the president, whom Gingrich accused of representing values antithetical to "classical" America.

"It's not that I am a good debater. It's that I articulate the deepest-felt values of the American people," said Gingrich, who admitted at a Thursday debate to sometimes thinking in grandiose terms.

The evening's second-place finisher, Romney, drew on elements of his stump speech, but also started to preview rhetoric that will become part of his pitched case versus Gingrich in Florida's primary on Jan. 31.

"We're now three contests into a long primary season ... We've still got a long way to go, and a lot of work to do," Romney said in his remarks Saturday night.

Gingrich, Romney said, had joined Obama in launching a "frontal assault on free enterprise," referencing the ex-speaker's attack on Romney's record at Bain Capital.

"Those who pick up the weapons of the left today will find them turned against us tomorrow," Romney said. "If Republican leaders want to join this president in demonizing success...then they're not going to be fit to be our nominee."

The results in South Carolina only raise the stakes for the battle in Florida, a traditionally expensive contest where voting is closed to only registered Republicans, and the winner is awarded all of the delegates.

The Romney campaign is hoping that contest will be its firewall. They appeared poised to make their argument versus Gingrich even more sharply in the state. They circulated a “flashback” video on Saturday reminding voters of the ethics investigation Gingrich had faced during his speakership.

The former speaker made reference to the next primary several times in his victory speech Satuday.

"With your help, we are now moving onto Florida and beyond," he said, later asking for supporters' help in reaching out to Floridians.

Gingrich, who will appear on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday morning, hopes to capitalize there on his finish in South Carolina, which was driven in part by late deciders, who broke decisively in his direction in the last few days of the campaign. That stretch saw two debate performances by Gingrich, on Monday and Thursday nights. Almost two-thirds of voters said the debates were an important factor in their decision, and Gingrich won about half of them.

More broadly, core elements of the GOP base in South Carolina – conservatives, Tea Party supporters and evangelical Christians – broke for Gingrich. And the former speaker even edged Romney in two important constituencies for the former Massachusetts governor: voters who said electability in November was their most important concern in a nominee, and voters who said the economy was their top issue.

The South Carolina results underscore Romney’s lingering inability to overcome skepticism from conservatives about electing him as their standard-bearer against Obama this fall.

RELATED: Conservatives, evangelical Christians rebuff Romney in South Carolina

Gingrich had erased Romney’s lead by abandoning his previous pledge to wage a “relentlessly positive” campaign. The former speaker eventually embraced a strategy of drawing strong contrasts with Romney and benefited from the negative advertising run on his behalf by a super PAC – a practice Gingrich loudly denounced in Iowa, where he saw his poll numbers collapse amid attacks by a pro-Romney super PAC.

His victory provides, if nothing else, a symbolic imprimatur; the winner of the South Carolina primary has gone on to win the nomination in each Republican primary since the contest’s inception in 1980.

The South Carolina results capped one of the most unpredictable weeks in the presidential campaign thus far, a week that saw two candidates leave the race and the veneer of inevitability the Romney campaign had built for itself erode by the end.

Watch Newt Gingrich's appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday

Recertified results in the Iowa caucuses found that he had actually lost the contest by a handful of votes to former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. And Romney has fought to withstand some of the most intense scrutiny he’s faced during the campaign; critics have assailed his private equity career and demanded Romney release his tax returns – demands which only reached a fever pitch after Romney estimated he pays an effective rate of 15 percent of his income in taxes.

Moreover, Romney’s performance in South Carolina will speak volumes about his fractious relationship with movement conservatives. He’s struggled at times to break through a ceiling on his support from those voters, who are skeptical of Romney’s past conversion on abortion rights and his embrace of authorship of a health care law as governor that closely resembles Obama’s 2010 reform law.

Nonetheless, the fact that Gingrich has arrived at the precipice of political resurrection – again – this cycle is itself remarkable.

Political observers had questioned when, not if, he would drop out after suffering missteps at the outset of his campaign that led to the defection of virtually all of his top staff last June. But Gingrich stuck with it and climbed to the top of the polls in Iowa, only to see his numbers implode again after weathering attacks from super PACs and Texas Rep. Ron Paul’s campaign.

In South Carolina, the former speaker has been aided by a variety of factors contributing to his potential comeback. He’s scored major points with voters with a couple of strong debate performances this week, particularly by way of launching acerbic attacks on the media. His angry refusal to answer allegations made by an ex-wife topped headlines coming out of a debate on Thursday – the same day that saw Texas Gov. Rick Perry drop his own campaign and endorse Gingrich.

The winnowed field (Jon Huntsman also ended his campaign and endorsed Romney), only reduced the number of candidates threatening to divide the anti-Romney vote in South Carolina.

Santorum, crowned the winner of the Iowa caucuses upon further review of the vote totals, had doggedly criticized both Romney and Gingrich in hopes of rallying conservatives behind his unflashy, if consistent, record.

"Three states, three winners -- what a great country," he said in remarks Saturday evening, vowing to continue his campaign through Florida and subsequent nominating contests.

NBC’s Jamie Novogrod, Garrett Haake, Alex Moe and Andrew Rafferty contributed.

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- It might have been South Carolina's largest political rally of the 2012 primary season, packed with more than 3,000 people, but with neither of the headlining guests actually a candidate for office.

Comedian Stephen Colbert brought his mock presidential campaign -- for president of the United States of South Carolina -- to his hometown of Charleston to ask voters to support former candidate Herman Cain.

"I want you to vote for Herman Cain because Herman Cain is me," Colbert told a cheering crowd at the College of Charleston. He urged voters to back Cain, whose name is still on Saturday's primary ballot, because South Carolina does not allow write-in candidates.

"We both flout convention when it comes to thinks like taxes and debt and how many '-Bekis' there are in Uz-Beki-Beki-Beki-Stan-Stan," Colbert said as the crowd roared. "I say three, Herman says four. National Geographic is working on it."

Cain eagerly shared the spotlight with Colbert but at times seemed like he didn't understand that the rally was a ruse, telling the audience that he disagreed with the comedian-in-chief on whom South Carolinians should vote for on Saturday.

“Now Stephen Colbert asked you to vote for Herman Cain. I am going to ask you to not vote for Herman Cain and here's why: I don't want you to waste your vote,” Cain said in a serious tone. “I don't want you to waste your vote because one of the things a lot of people failed to really appreciate is that every vote counts. Every vote counts and your vote still matters and you still matter.”

Thus went the dynamic of the massive rally: a wide-eyed, sarcastic Colbert poking fun at a willing but rather serious Cain, who was angling for one last stand. While it was clear that Colbert was mocking campaigns, candidates, campaign finance and ballot access, Cain seemed, at several points, not exactly in on the joke as he repurposed old lines from his presidential stump speech.

Taking full advantage of his captive audience, Cain advertised his new website and 9-9-9 tax plan, then encouraged voters to mobilize for change.

"The way you change [government] from the outside is you become a part of this massive movement that's going on in this country,” Cain said, to a scattered applause. “We have got to change Washington from the outside and it starts with you and every other college campus in America.”

When Cain implored students to “stay inspired,” an audible groan rippled through the audience.

It wasn’t long, however, before Colbert lured Cain back into his web of hilarity, reminding him that a Palmetto State victory is indeed still possible, citing some famous defeats through history.

"Just because you lose, that doesn't mean you surrender,” Colbert told Cain. “Did Napoleon surrender at Waterloo? Did Custer surrender at Little Big Horn? Did Robert E. Lee surrender at Appomattox? Hell no!"

Colbert also seized on super PACs, telling the crowd he “celebrated” the organizations. Super PACs may accept unlimited campaign donations from corporations and individuals, and have operated in support of presidential candidates, although they are legally barred from coordinating with candidates directly.

Playing on the names of major super PACs this season, Colbert joyfully ripped the organizations.

"We had finally arrived at an American Crossroads to Restore our Future Priorities USA and Make Us Great Again. Because Freedom Works. And once upon a time I even had one, Colbert Super PAC,” he said wistfully.

"I had to give up my super PAC just because I formed an exploratory committee to be the president of the United States of South Carolina,” Colbert explained. “Giving up that Super PAC wasn't easy. It was like giving up my baby. Do you know how hard that is?"

"Now imagine that baby had a whole lot of money," he continued. "Imagine how much harder that would be because, God willing, you'll get that baby back, but it might not have all the money so why would you love it?"

Basking in crowds larger than even his biggest rallies as a candidate, Cain happily maintained his swagger, serenading the audience in a solo before executing a rousing duet of “This Little Light of Mine” with Colbert, complete with a backup gospel choir.

The rock show-like atmosphere was one that would make any actual presidential candidate jealous. But it's unclear what, if any, effect the rally will have on Saturday's primary vote. Most of the audience was comprised of students at the College of Charleston, many of whom hail from out of state.

Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum have fought in the closing days of the South Carolina primary to remind voters of the headaches Republicans faced during the speakership of Newt Gingrich, highlighting in particular the ethics investigation that led to his official reprimand.

For his part, Gingrich has dismissed the investigation as an essentially partisan exercise; a spokesman for the former speaker called it "Nancy Pelosi's ethics witch-hunt" on Friday afternoon.

But that hasn't satisfied Gingrich's GOP foes. On Friday, Romney called on Gingrich to release any records relating to the ethics investigation -- a response, in part, to Gingrich's demand that the former Massachusetts governor release his tax records.

"One of the issues that was raised last night by Rick Santorum was the fact that he was pushed out of the House by his fellow members. I think over 80 percent of Republican congressmen voted to reprimand the speaker of the House -- first time in history," Romney said in Gilbert, S.C. "Nancy Pelosi has the full record of that ethics investigation. You know it’s going to get out before the general election."

SLIDESHOW: Newt Gingrich

It cuts to the core of a concern about Gingrich on the lips of many Republicans: While he is credited as a visionary, his speakership was marked by internal Republican discord and personal missteps that made it difficult for the Republicans whom Gingrich had led to Congress to govern. (It's that context which helped give legs to the allegations made Thursday by Gingrich's ex-wife that he had asked for an "open" marriage, or had otherwise asked for a divorce.)

"I don't want a nominee that I have to worry about going out and looking at the paper the next day and figuring out  … worrying about what he's going to say next," Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, said at Thursday night's debate.

But just as Romney's campaign has been reluctant to make public the candidate's tax records, so, too, the Gingrich campaign seems unlikely to release any new documents about the investigation into his actions, which concluded in 1997.

"Unlike Mitt Romney's Tax Returns, the documents and reports from Nancy Pelosi's ethics witch-hunt vs. Newt have been [for] over a decade," Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond wrote on Twitter.

Indeed, the House Select Committee on Ethics has long-posted on its website the entirety of its findings against Gingrich. The Romney campaign is asking for the release of additional documents and details used by the committee as part of its deliberations, a request that goes well beyond what's required of the former speaker. Gingrich has estimated that his office had turned over "1 million pages of material" to the ethics office, much of which may be protected under the private deliberations of the committee.

But a number of other details about the investigation, which culminated in an official House vote to reprimand Gingrich and a $300,000 bill to reimburse the committee's investigation, are a matter of public record.

The investigation was initiated by a complaint filed in September of 1994 by Gingrich's opponent for re-election that alleged a course Gingrich had tought at Kennesaw State College essentially served political purposes despite the class having been advertised as a not-for-profit activity; one that served a primarily educational function.

The investigation was eventually expanded to probe what role GOPAC, the political action committee founded to help train GOP candidates for office, played in support of that college course.

The ethics committee concluded its work in 1997, saying in its findings that Gingrich had misled the committee in its investigations. The eight-member panel stopped short of saying Gingrich had lied, but said the then-speaker had been either "intentional" or "reckless" in his representations of his activities during the investigation. The ethics committee, which is divided evenly on party lines, voted 7-1 in favor of its judgment, and recommendation that the full House vote to reprimand Gingrich and require the reimbursement of $300,000 for extra time spent on the investigation as a result of Gingrich's misstatements.

The House did overwhelmingly approve the reprimand, voting 395-28 to approve the punishment. Twenty-six Republicans broke ranks to oppose the punishment. An official reprimand is a step below censure in severity of congressional discipline.

At the time, as recounted in a Jan. 19, 1997 story in The Washington Post, Gingrich had accepted the penalty and reprimand. But Gingrich ultimately blamed his attorneys for making mistakes that led to the misleading information. "I trusted the law firm to have done the job right. They didn't do the job right and I didn't catch them," he said on Jan. 25, according to a CNN report at the time.

But while the investigation was conducted in a nonpartisan fashion, it's also true that the investigation and reprimand of Gingrich -- the first for a sitting speaker -- was a potent political issue.

According to accounts during the controversy, Republicans were particularly incensed by Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., a member of the ethics committee who leaked audio of Gingrich plotting with aides to combat the charges. The leak fueled partisan rancor over whether Gingrich was being targeted unfairly because of his political stature.

(It's also true that the investigation drove some internal Republican dissent. Throughout the course of the investigation, some Republican members called on Gingrich to step aside temporarily, while others suggested they would not support Gingrich for a second term as speaker. He won a second term with 216 votes, despite some GOP defections.)

The sense, though, that the investigation had been a partisan exercise was rekindled by comments made by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in December. Pelosi was a member of the eight-member ethics panel to conduct the Gingrich investigation.

“I know a lot about him. I served on the investigative committee that investigated him, four of us locked in a room in an undisclosed location for a year. A thousand pages of his stuff," she told the left-leaning news website TalkingPointsMemo.

Pelosi would be barred by releasing that information, since the ethics committee is charged with conducting its inquiries in private. 

That prompted Gingrich to call Pelosi's words in December an early "Christmas gift."

"Just a reminder, that committee was extraordinarily partisan. The job of the Democrats was to get Newt Gingrich," he said on Dec. 6 on CNBC. "They couldn't beat any of our ideas, so they decided to try to beat the messenger. And I think it actually will help people understand what happened in that period and how much of it was partisan."

But it's Pelosi's veiled threat on which Romney's campaign is leaning Friday. "If Nancy Pelosi has this information, Barack Obama has this information," Romney communications director Gail Gitcho said in an email to reporters.

Additional resources on Gingrich's ethics investigation:

• Key Washington Post stories related to the Gingrich investigation
• CNN timeline of Gingrich investigation
• Politifact on Gingrich's claim the ethics investigation was partisan

NBC's Garrett Haake contributed reporting.

GILBERT, SC -- Mitt Romney said Friday he was "cautiously optimistic" he could still pull out a win in South Carolina's primary, where he's working to withstand a last minute surge by Newt Gingrich.

Romney, who finished fourth in the 2008 primary, has watched Gingrich chip away at his lead in polls here over the course of the week. Voters head to the polls tomorrow to cast their ballots in the first-in-the-south primary.
 
"I sure would like to win South Carolina, but I know that if those polls were right, regardless of who gets the final number, we’re both going to get a lot of delegates. I want as many delegates as I can get -- I want the most delegates coming out of South Carolina," Romney told reporters gathered for a press conference. "But I don’t know what the numbers will be. I’m pretty confident, cautiously optimistic."
 
The former Massachusetts governor also acknowledged the tightening of the race, which has twisted and turned dramatically in the last 24 hours.
 
"I think I said from the very beginning South Carolina is an uphill battle for a guy from Massachusetts. I knew that. We're battling hard. The fact is right now it looks like its neck and neck that's a good spot to be in. I'm pretty pleased and pretty proud about the success of our effort," Romney said.

Romney campaign staffers and surrogates began dialing back expectations of a win in South Carolina in the spin room following last night's debate, with several members of the Romney camp reminding reporters of Romney's distant fourth place finish here in 2008. Romney himself seemed to be trying to lower expectations at times during today's press conference.

"Well just last time around I came in number four. And, and so this time I realized that I had a lot of ground to make up. And speaker Gingrich is from a neighboring state, well-known, popular in the state," Romney said. "I knew that we’d have a long, long road ahead of us. And frankly to be in a neck and neck race at this last moment is, is kind of exciting.
 
Romney, who just days ago looked likely to clinch a third straight primary win here has seen his Iowa victory morphed into a loss to Santorum after the release of certified results in that contest, and his South Carolina lead greatly strained by Gingrich's latest surge. Both of those developments could extend a GOP primary in which states are awarding delegates proportionally for the first time, a fact Romney lamented this afternoon.
 
"You know, I wish it were a winner-take-all state. I wish we had all winner take all states, but we don’t. And so it’s going to be a longer process than, perhaps, than that would’ve suggested. But you know, it looks like we’re going to get real support into South Carolina and then we go into Florida.," Romney said. "You know, I’m still hoping and planning to win here. And I’m sure the Speaker feels the same way I do. But we’re going to go on for a long race and I think I’ve got the staying power and a, and a message that I believe connects with people."
 
After facing another series of questions about his tax returns last night, Romney said again today he would release those documents in April -- and defended his handling of the issue by saying he had not anticipated the level of interest in his returns, which he said provided less information than financial disclosure forms he had already filed.
 
"I know you guys do and the Democrats would like to and my opponents would like to, but in order for me to defeat President Obama I have to do what I think is the absolute right way to run a campaign and provide information, consistent with the public interest.  And I know there is interest and so I have indicated that I will release my tax returns," Romney said. "I'll do so when they are prepared. Which would be April, first middle part of April, and then they’ll all come out at one time. It'll be more than one year, I don’t know the exact number, but people can take a look at it."
 
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who appeared with Romney at his rainy outdoor rally and flanked him at the press conference, also defended Romney's handling of the tax returns, saying they were effectively a non-issue.
 
"The people of South Carolina are not talking about tax returns. They're not. They're talking about jobs, spending, and the economy," Haley said. "They want to know how you're gonna bring jobs. So, that's me talking as the governor of South Carolina, talking to my people -- everybody knows someone without a job. Everybody is touched by somebody that doesn't have a job. That's what they care about. They don't care about tax returns."

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- The real headline at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference did not come from anything said there, but rather the event's dismal attendance, which prompted at least one candidate to cancel his appearance.

There were about 25 people in the space set aside for the conference at 9 A.M. when Newt Gingrich was scheduled to speak. But his campaign cancelled his appearance despite the traveling press being brought into the event space, which would have seated about 800 people.

"The campaign came to a mutual agreement with the organizers that based on attendance, we would go ahead and spend more time with the children of Charleston at the children's hospital," said campaign press manager Nathan Naidu, referring to Gingrich's next campaign stop at the Medical University of South Carolina children's hospital.

Erin Callanan, the press liaison for the conference, attributed the cancellation to "conflicting schedules."

"We're disappointed but we wish him well in the rest of his candidacy," she said to reporters after the cancellation was announced. "He's a presidential candidate. It's what comes with the schedule. You've got to be flexible."

The attendance picked up around 10 A.M. when Texas Rep. Ron Paul spoke, his supporters bringing the total attendance up to at least 100 people.

While Paul did not acknowledge the sparse attendance during his speech, he did talk about last night's CNN debate.

"The debates last night were very interesting and sometimes distracting, but overall I thought the debate went quite well," he said.

After Paul, and about 40 supporters, left the arena, Sen. Jim DeMint addressed, via pre-recorded video, the approximately 40 remaining audience members, urging them to rally behind the eventual Republican nominee.

"Vote for whoever you want. You find the best of the best and vote for them. But when we have a nominee as a party let's be united and recognize that we need to win this election," he said.

DeMint also praised the conference's "critical mass of principles and power in Charleston" and urged the attendees to "leave and go work for your candidate" after the event concluded.

The low attendance rate suggested, however, that Republican activists had already heeded DeMint's message, given that the critical masses were certainly not at the Southern Republican Leadership conference.

Newt Gingrich opened a pivotal Republican presidential debate with a fiery attack on the media for publishing stories regarding new allegations made against him by an ex-wife.

Gingrich assailed, in no uncertain terms, CNN moderator John King for opening the debate by asking Gingrich to answer allegations made by his ex-wife, Marianne, in an interview with ABC News, saying the then-speaker of the House asked to engage in an "open marriage," or else he would file for divorce.

"I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate with a topic like that," Gingrich said, earning wild applause from the audience. "To take an ex-wife and make it two days before the primary a significant question in a presidential campaign is as close to despicable as anything I can imagine."

Gingrich disputed the allegations as "false," and his three fellow Republicans onstage resisted piling on. ("Let's get on to the real issues," former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said.)

It was a spirited opening to a debate that capped one of the most politically tumultuous days of the 2012 cycle.

CHARLESTON, SC -- Erstwhile presidential candidate Herman Cain made his promised "unconventional endorsement" on Thursday, explaining to Republicans here that he supports "the people" in 2012.

The former Godfather's Pizza CEO appeared at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference to make his announcement weeks after having ended his own presidential campaign.

“Here is my unconventional endorsement: not a candidate seeking the nomination, not someone that’s not running. My unconventional endorsement is the people,” Cain bellowed to a near-empty arena at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference.

"We the people of this nation are still in charge! That's who I'm endorsing! Because we're the ones that are going to have to lead this revolution. We're the ones who are gonna be able to take our power back. I'm endorsing the people, the people who started this country," he added.

Less than five minutes later, Cain -- clad in one of his signature gold ties -- told reporters he still may choose to endorse an actual candidate in the near future.

"Now the fact that I made an unconventional endorsement does not rule out that I still might endorse someone. I'm simply not going to do it now," he said. "I wanted my unconventional endorsement to be a part of a bigger message. That bigger position is Washington is broke."

Cain, in an attempt to reassert relevance in the GOP race, said that he "stopped by here to tell y'all today we need another revolution! We need a solutions revolution!"

Fresh off a bus boasting his 9-9-9 tax plan and his new "Solutions Revolution" tour, Cain's self-confidence was unwavering.

"This time it won't be about bombs and bullets. We are not going to fight it with bombs and bullets. We are going to fight this solutions revolution with brains and ballots at the ballot box," Cain told a handful of Republicans from around the country.

The Georgia-based businessman also ruled out another White House bid, at least during this cycle.

"No, I have not considered coming back into the race. Here's why, real simply, I chose to put family first," Cain explained, citing "lies that have been spun over and over" causing "tears in [his] wife's eyes."

Cain also used his moment in the spotlight to dispense personal advice to frontrunner Newt Gingrich, ahead of a television interview with the former speaker's second wife set to air this evening.

"The American people don't care. My recommendation to Speaker Gingrich is don't focus on it," he said, drawing on sexual allegations made against him during his candidacy.

Tomorrow, Cain will appear in Charleston again alongside comedian Stephen Colbert for a rally entitled “The Rock Me Like a Herman Cain: South Cain-olina Primary Rally.”

CHARLESTON, SC -- Despite revised results in the Iowa caucus showing he finished 24 votes ahead of Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum found his potential moment in the sun overshadowed Thursday by news that a rival Republican was exiting the race.

The Iowa GOP's official tally, until today, had Santorum losing to Romney by eight votes, but on Thursday the Republican Party of Iowa today released the certified tally, which gave Santorum a 34 vote advantage over Mitt Romney. NBC News will not declare a winner in the race.

But the questions the former Pennsylvania senator had faced throughout the day about the recount were paired with queries about Texas Gov. Rick Perry's departure from the race.

"We can win elections, we can organize, we can put together an effort to pull the resources together to be able to be successful in being the person that can defeat Mitt Romney because guess what, we defeated Mitt Romney in Iowa," Santorum said this morning about the revised results.

But the follow up about reaction to Perry leaving the race: "I know it's a tough day and it's been a tough process for them and my heart and prayers go out to them and congratulations to them on stepping up when you thought your country was calling you to try to make a difference."

Along with his announcement to leave the race, Perry also endorsed Newt Gingrich, a blow to Santorum, whose campaign is attempting to appeal to many of the same conservative voters Perry did. Still, after an appearance at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, Santorum maintained that anytime the field narrows is a good thing for him.

Speaking at the SRLC just moments before former presidential candidate Herman Cain, Santorum remained focused touting his Iowa victory. While how the development will impact Santorum in the polls remains unclear, campaign aides he said they have already seen a bump in fundraising.

Still, the former Pennsylvania senator is still struggling to compete with Gingrich and Romney in the Palmetto State, proclaiming only that he would show momentum here.

"We feel very, very good about what this win will mean," he said.

Updated 6:16 p.m.

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- After winning the support of former rival Rick Perry this morning, Newt Gingrich's endorsement momentum continued among members of South Carolina's political establishment as he picked up former supporters of Jon Huntsman and Perry, along with few influential GOP fundraisers.

Richard Quinn, Huntsman's top South Carolina strategist who worked for John McCain in 2008, is endorsing Gingrich along with his son Rick, a state senator who had also endorsed Huntsman. The senior Quinn had also worked as an adviser to Ronald Reagan's 1980 presidential campaign, an aspect of his resume Gingrich may soon highlight.

Mike Campbell, the son of former South Carolina Gov. Carroll Campbell, who also backed Huntsman, announced his support of Gingrich today. Bob McAlister, a former chief of staff to compbell who had aided the Huntsman and McCain campaigns, also backed Gingrich.

Several influential members of the South Carolina business community are also rallying behind Gingrich today including two former Huntsman backers: businessman John Rainey and Gayle Averyt, former chairman of the Colonial life insurance company. Former Tanzania ambassador Bob Royall, another bundler for Bush and McCain, also endorsed Gingrich.

Huntsman exited the race on Monday, and endorsed Mitt Romney -- not Gingrich -- in the GOP primary.

Those business leaders, as well as several of their friends and colleagues, met with Gingrich last week in an effort to coalesce around a candidate as they had done in 2000, when they rallied around George W. Bush, and 2008, when they endorsed McCain. They also considered Rick Santorum, who also spoke with the group last week.

Gingrich also nabbed a major former Perry backer, South Carolina state House Speaker Bobby Harrell, who was part of a 20-plus group of influential Republicans who endorsed Perry in late October. Another Perry supporter, South Carolina Rep. Mick Mulvaney, said today that he did not "anticipate endorsing any other candidate between now and Saturday."

While Gingrich seemed to collect up the most endorsements today, one influential Republican joined the Romney camp: David Wilkins, a former state House speaker and ambassador to Canada during George W. Bush's administration. (Wilkins' brother Billy, a prominent lawyer here, is a Gingrich supporter.)

Wilkins told NBC News today that he met Romney and his wife six years ago during a breakfast in Boston with other U.S. ambassadors.

TAMPLA, FL -- Michele Bachmann's campaign is denying the Minnesota congresswoman has either endorsed or ruled out supporting a candidate following the circulation of a fraudulent news release in South Carolina.

A release, which appears to show the Minnesota congresswoman denouncing Newt Gingrich two weeks after Bachmann ended her campaign, was distributed by email to voters in South Carolina yesterday.

The campaign's former communications director, Alice Stewart, issued this response: "The Bachmann for President campaign has not issued an official statement regarding an endorsement of any current candidate in the GOP race ahead of the South Carolina primary. Any information found to the contrary is inaccurate."

NBC News has obtained a copy of the release, which was printed on campaign letterhead and made to look like a news release sent on behalf of the candidate herself. 

The release promises an endorsement in the "coming weeks," but notes, "through this exhaustive process of consideration, it was strikingly obvious that one candidate could not be less acceptable to be our Party's nominee." 

Describing a candidate lacking "poise, experience and moral fibre," the release names Gingrich, calling him "desperately flawed."

If nothing else, the incident demonstrates that Bachmann's voice is valuable enough to counterfeit, and it marks the second time in a week that former top aides have complained her name is being misused.

On Friday, campaign manager Keith Nahigian directed a lawyer to ask South Carolina radio stations to take down an advertisement he said created the false impression she is endorsing the former House speaker.