GREENVILLE, S.C. – A showdown was averted at Tommy’s Hamhouse in Greenville, where both Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich were scheduled to hold events at the same time, when Romney showed up an hour early for his event and left before Gingrich walked in.
“I’m confused. Where’s Mitt?” Gingrich asked when he arrived. For the record, The Daily Caller was also confused, having arrived 45 minutes early for the event, only to discover that meant we were in fact late.
“I thought he was gonna stay and maybe we’d have a little debate here this morning,” Newt said, to raucous cheers, “so I’m kind of confused.”
“We want to say to our friends who are holding up Romney signs, we’re glad you’re part of the American system, glad that you have the right in this country to express yourself, and we hope in the very near future you’ll see the light and pick up a Gingrich sign,” Gingrich joked.
Jibing at his opponent once again, Gingrich touted his Southern credentials against Romney the New Englander.
“I have to say as a Georgian, I find an awful lot of places like Tommy’s Hamhouse to be sort of familiar. I don’t think they serve New England clam chowder here, but this is good eating,” he said.
“I am the only conservative who has an opportunity to stop a Massachusetts moderate, and I need the vote of every conservative in South Carolina today,” Gingrich concluded.
Asked by TheDC after the event what he thought of Romney leaving before he arrived, Newt jabbed, “I think he had had to go to debate prep.”