Morning Examiner: Romney’s Bain bounce

Reports on the ground from South Carolina also show that Gingrich’s Bain attack is blowing up in his face. This Saturday, at a forum hosted by Mike Huckabee, Newt was roundly booed by the conservative audience after an audience member asked him to defend his attacks on Bain.

For his part, Gingrich finally seems to be getting the message. Campaigning in Georgetown, South Carolina, Sunday, a town featured in his Super PAC attack on Mitt Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital, Gingrich declined to even mention Bain.

But the damage has already been done. While Romney has been steadily rising in South Carolina polls since his win in Iowa, none of the other contenders is catching on. Newt is stuck around 20%, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum around 15%, and Rick Perry and Jon Huntsman at 5%. And now, with Huntsman dropping out of the race, analysts see that support going towards Romney too.

Campaign 2012

Huntsman: According to top campaign officials, Jon Huntsman has told his staff he is ending his presidential campaign. Press Secretary Tim Miller tells The Washington Examiner‘s Michael Barone: “It just wasn’t happening. It didn’t make any sense. We were just pulling eight points off Mitt.” Huntsman will reportedly endorse Romney.

Santorum: Rick Santorum may have just won the endorsement of some national Christian conservatives meeting in Texas Saturday, but a South Carolina conservative tells The Washington Examiner that the endorsement came too late: “I’m sure they’d like to think they can change the race. But look — let’s be real — it’s too late. This thing is over; Romney is a runaway train and those who aren’t happy about it should either jump on board or get out of the way.” Meanwhile, The New York Times reports that, while he was in the U.S. Senate, Santorum gave earmarks to donors.

Around the Bigs

The Wall Street Journal, Downgrades Fan Fresh Euro Fears: Standard & Poor’s Friday credit rating downgrade for France, Austria, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and three other nations will make it harder and more expensive for the European Union to bailout Greece and other credit risks.

The Washington Post, Plans for high-speed rail are slowing down: Spiraling cost estimates and eroding political and public support are threatening to end President Obama’s signature domestic infrastructure proposal, high-speed rail.

The Hill, Business groups push Congress to act quickly to extend tax breaks: Lobbyists are anxiously awaiting Congress’ return to session so they can push for extensions to a slew of tax loopholes that expired at the end of 2011.

The New York Times, Baghdad Detains U.S. Contractors: In one of the first major assertions of sovereignty, the Iraqi government has detained a few hundred foreign contractors in recent weeks, including many Americans who work for the United States Embassy.

Righty Playbook

The Heritage Foundation‘s Hans von Spakovsky has identified an internal Office of the Solicitor General document showing that Justice Elena Kagan “substantially participated” in a health care case in San Francisco in which the Justice Department argued over the effect of Obamacare.

The Washington Examiner‘s Tim Carney reports on how Obama’s new “insourcing” campaign is nothing but “corporate welfare and crony capitalism, with subsidies seemingly designed to appeal to swing-state voters.”

Reporting from the social conservative meeting in Texas, RedState‘s Erick Erickson notes that the Christian conservative movement “is getting really old and I do not yet see authentic, strong voices rising up to succeed these pioneers.”

Lefty Playbook

Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert has launched an ad through his Super PAC attacking Mitt Romney “Mitt the Ripper” for being a “serial killer” of corporations.

Talking Points Memo reports that, even if they are fully enacted, Obama’s policies will do nothing to stop growing income inequality.

ThinkProgress notes that Rick Santorum supported an individual mandate to buy health insurance in 1994.