Gingrich predicts he’ll be GOP's nominee with South Carolina victory

BLUFFTON, South Carolina — Newt Gingrich predicted a strong finish in South Carolina, repeatedly pointing to a new poll that shows him leading Mitt Romney in the state.

And he said that a South Carolina win would catapult him to the nomination.

“If we win on Saturday, with your help, I believe I will become the nominee because I do think South Carolina in effect has an enormous impact,” he said at a campaign event here Thursday morning. “You’ve picked the winner of every primary since 1980. I believe we will go on to win Florida and we will go on to win the nomination.”

The 400-member crowd in the auditorium warmly received the former House Speaker. He faced only glowingly positive questions during the question-and-answer period, and when he asked how many had seen him during his last appearance at the center, months ago, more than half the crowd raised their hands. He also thanked the crowd for their multiple standing ovations.

He was not asked about, nor did he address, an ABC News interview with his former wife Marianne Gingrich. The network is reportedly airing the interview Thursday night.

Earlier in the day, in an interview with NBC's "Today Show," Gingrich said it would be “wrong” to air the interview.

The Georgia Republican was more than a half-hour late for the event, leading introductory speakers to try to extend their remarks and long pauses between the speeches where one person encouraged the audience to “chat a few minutes.” When retired Col. Michael Steele, who led the Black Hawk Down mission in Somalia, came up to the stage, he joked that “they must really be hurting on time if they asked me to speak.”

When Gingrich did arrive, he was received warmly.

“This is the first time I’ve had a standing ovation besides Monday night,” he said, alluding to the last debate, and joked that this time he “didn’t even have Juan Williams” to help him. During the Monday night debate, he had a fight with the moderator about whether he was using racially coded language. The debate audience applauded Gingrich's response to that exchange.

Gingrich also used his appearance to hit Romney as a “Massachusetts moderate." Of his other rivals, he noted he had “several good friends” who are “nice people” but added that he was the only “effective conservative in the field that can beat Mitt Romney.”

Gingrich was not asked about Rick Perry’s impending exit and endorsement of his campaign during the event, and did not respond to reporters’ questions about the endorsement afterward.

During the speech, he blasted President Obama’s planned visit to Disney World, comparing the president to Mickey Mouse and criticizing him for planning a town hall in the theme park.

“My wife has been lecturing me all morning because I think to myself, ‘President Obama, Mickey Mouse,' ” he said before trailing off to laughter from the senior-heavy audience at the Sun City Retirement Community, a gated community with expansive golf courses and tennis courts near Hilton Head, S.C.

“To close half of The Magic Kingdom for the purpose of a White House invitation-only town-hall meeting on a phony Main Street on behalf of a phony president just strikes me as weird,” he said.

He also slammed Obama for blocking the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada, saying the move was brought upon by pressure from “San Francisco liberals” and would cost the United States tens of thousands of jobs. He also said it would force Canada to build a pipeline to Vancouver to export that oil to China.

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