captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> good evening. we continue to follow the latest developments from the south carolina primary spread out its gingrich is the clear winner, finishing at least 12% ahead of mitt romney, who many people thought was the front runner days ago. kris van cleave joins us from south carolina, where he has been at the center of all of the action. a big victory for newt gingrich tonight, expected to win, but not by such a large margin. >> that is right. the gingrich campaign is ecstatic with the results. they had been hoping for a four- six.

decisive margin of victory. to fall into a decisive -- to fall into double digits makes it a decisive victory. he was almost written off as having a chance of winning here then he hadn't at big surge. >> your at the victory party tonight. can you talk about the atmosphere? he spoke with some supporters. " were they saying? >> it was a big old party. the people were very excited. it was a mixture of relief and an awful lot of excitement. then as they started to see how big the margin was, it was an all-out celebration. it was a remarkable comeback if you look at where the polls for a week ago compared with were the numbers are tonight. >> rick santorum wins iowa, but romney new hampshire, newt gingrich take south carolina, nobody backing down. seems like anybody's race.

>> florida will become a big player. it is a must win it for me to romney. it is a bigger stake much more expensive to compete. romney has more money and a big ground game. he is also ahead in the polls. he needs to win in florida yes and this will go on for quite some time. talking to all of the candidates the past few days, that have all been talking. let's hear what they have said. >> this is the most important election of our lifetime. if barack obama can get reelected, after this disaster just think how radical he would be in a second term. i have a proposal, with your help we are now moving on to florida and beyond.

>> tonight i want to congratulate speaker gingrich and my fellow republicans, a hard-fought campaign in south carolina. we are now three contests into a long primary season. this is a hard fight because there is so much worth fighting for. >> three states, three winners what a great country. >> virginia's governor was on the campaign trail today. he had endorsed but romney yesterday. he was in south carolina yesterday and this morning. we have video from an event this morning, where both governor romney and governor mcdonnell were present. we had the opportunity to speak with governor mcdonald the only television station to talk, but the situation, and already by midday the were positioning for a defeat. but annette up being a bigger loss than they thought. here is what the governor had to say. >> i think he expected this

would be a long haul primary. there are three tough competitors who are working hard and i think governor romney will be our nominee. it was a stick a couple more primaries to get that done. >> florida votes at the very end of the month. it. santorum with the third-place finish stays alive. mitt romney said if he won in south carolina he would win floor and when the republican nomination. for him florida is a must win. he asked supporters to stick with him through florida michigan colorado, and nevada. he thinks that he could win a war of attrition to get the gop nomination. kris van cleave, abc 7 news. >> thank you so much. a reminder, abc 7 is your election station. keep it right here for live reports, or book marked wjla.com for instant updates.

back at home, like this week, a local self-made billionaire stepped forward to seeing that he would donate the rest of the money needed to repair the washington monument. the landmark suffered cracks this past august in the earthquake. we have more on what prompted the donation and when the monument may reopen. >> even what close, the washington monument continues to welcome visitors to the front yard of the nation's capital. the monuments future is what motivated bethesda businessman david rubinstein to donate $7.5 million to get it fixed. >> this country has been wonderful to me, the city has been wonderful to me and my family and i want to repay a debt i have to the country. >> the august earthquake less severe damage to the inside and outside of this massive structure. rubinstein, a self-made billionaire, immediately asked how much money they need it and

without hesitating wrote the check. >> everyone has a role in preserving the history of our country. david, you are a true hero. >> the disappointment about hearing about its closure disappeared about hearing about the generous gift. >> i am really glad. >> official said the country is focused on patriotism and generosity, and this is a gift to the entire nation. >> now we can count on the day when visitors from around the world will once again be able to enter the washington monument. >> new developments for the national slavery museum in fredericksburg. the judge has given them until the end of fedora to file a bankruptcy reorganization plan. they owe more than $250,000 in back taxes to the city of fredericksburg. an accountant will take a new look at the boat and file tax

returns dating back to 2008. the museum was supposed to open as early as 2004, but never did. still to come, federal funds have been cut to help people pay their heating bills. how some people are struggling and the action taken to help them. plus several new movies this weekend. >> i'm steve rudin and the belfort furniture weather center. a cold night had could lead to

>> as the temperature drops thousands are on their road to having their seat cut off. congress cut from the federal program that helps low-income family and the elderly pay their heating bills. cynne simpson shows that many people are forced to choose between paying their electric bill or buying food or medicine. >> this winter, this single mother will sacrifice more than ever before to keep her little boys' safe and warm in their manassas town house. >> i have a lump in my upper chest on the left-hand side. >> she cannot afford health care coverage for herself. >> i have been putting it off because i do not have the insurance and i don't have the money for the ultrasound. >> instead she uses the money to keep the heat on and the house. >> it is very scary.

>> she cannot keep up with the bills, even though she works every day as a massage therapist. >> service to be cut off. >> the heat is about to be turned off. she keeps most of the lights off, turns the thermostat down low, the tv is off and the cable disconnected. still, it is not enough. at northern virginia family service, the nonprofit is struggling more than ever to help people pay their utilities. >> we are turning more people away on assistance because we are working with less. >> much less from the federal government. president obama of proposed cutting heating assistance for poor and the elderly nearly in half from $4.7 billion down to $2.5 billion. congress cannot go that far but cut $1.2 billion from the

program. thousands are being turned away without that help. >> you know the situation could and in homelessness, could end in the child's sleeping on the floor and a cold blanket. >> it boggles my mind. at that terrifies me. >> several senators have signed on to bring back last year's heat funding levels. both of maryland's senators have signed on as co-sponsors. cynne simpson, abc 7 news. >> the maryland department of education has named six public schools 2012 blue ribbon schools of excellence. crofton meadows elementary, and rachel carson elementary in montgomery and whitehall alimentary were all honored. the schools were selected based on high performance or significant improvement in math and reading. still to come, credit card debt,

new numbers show many are eliminating what they owe.

>> 7 on your side with catching up on your debt, and new numbers showing americans are starting to clear credit cards. the average debt was cut 11% last year. the average balance is now $6600

down from $7400. hard to believe but tax season is here and virginia residents are being given a new option for filing online. nearly 2.7 million people in virginia file their returns on line last year. officials say it filing online is safer than paper returns and also speed up processing of refunds. can you believe it, getting close to april? >> after february, in d.c., february can produce some fairly potent snowstorms even march and early april. >> i'm not complaining the way things are going. >> today, 0.7 inches of snow at reagan national airport, not much tomorrow. tomorrow night freezing rain.

34 degrees, that is it, the high temperature, below average this time of year. 70 degree sounds nice, way back in 1959. 31 what the wind chill factor, 10 degrees colder than that. 28 degrees at children's hospital in the district, high today of 30. 29 and clifton va. but says that at 31. -- 29 in clifton but says that at 31. 30 degrees at this hour manassas right at the freezing mark in fredericksburg. the temperatures that made it above freezing today where everything melted, everything will refreeze overnight slick conditions in the morning definitely take it easy. i wiped out this morning getting a cup of coffee. the temperatures across the area, everybody laughed 17

degrees detroit. the wind chill factors in the teens. a high pressure slowly builds overhead. the clouds clear just a little bit. the temperatures fall well into the 20's. the nasty weather moving off towards the north and east. a quieter day tomorrow. up the clouds continue to increase. no advisory or warnings. the snow levels across the mid- atlantic is limited to the north of the d.c. metro into western maryland. this is where they had the winter storm warning earlier today. this is what it looks like with the future-cast. the next 48 hours, breaks in the clouds, a little bit of the results tomorrow. that mixes with freezing drizzle late tomorrow night into early monday morning. i'm confident we will get a bump of warmer air monday morning monday afternoon so anything

that falls from the sky will be rain. it will not freeze on contact. 22-27 overnight daytime highs in the 30's. above average temperatures for a good part of the upcoming work and school week. upper 40's, low 50's daytime highs. quite a bit of sunshine on the way once we get through this system on monday afternoon. >> steve, i appreciate your full disclosure. we know you are not the only one who slip today. >> it hurt. >> but you were ok? >> completely fine. >> still to come -- >> the tuskegee airmen as action

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>> if you are heading to the movies this weekend, there is a wide selection. there is a history -- there is a movie on history of air man who broke barriers during world war ii. >> new movies include a martial arts extravaganza, a 9/11 hard cover, and historic reminder for a new generation. "red tails" turns the story of the tuskegee airmen into a high- tech action adventure, a black

pilots who broke racial barriers during world war ii. steven spielberg put his stamp on the special effects. >> you were 19, 20, 21. a dog fight is not just fly and turn. >> great action, wooden dialogue, a couple 1/2 stars pg-13. "haywire," age-old dropping a thriller 3 stars r-rated. thomas horne holds his own as a kid searching for a message from his father in open court extremely loud and incredibly close." three stars pg-13.

have a nice weekend. i'm arch campbell, abc 7 entertainment.