Exclusive: 100 tea party leaders to announce support for Newt

Alex Pappas Political Reporter
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CHARLESTON, S.C. — The Daily Caller has learned that 100 tea party leaders from 25 states will announce Thursday that they are supporting Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and will form a coalition called Tea Partiers With Newt.

The news comes as signs appear that tea partiers here in South Carolina, which holds a primary Saturday, may be coalescing around Gingrich.

“My sense is there is a growing coalition behind Newt Gingrich,” Joe Dugan, who leads the state’s chapter of Tea Party Patriots, told TheDC.

A news release that will go out Thursday from the Gingrich campaign says the coalition will “help elect Newt and defeat Massachusetts Moderate Mitt Romney and then President Barack Obama.”

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