i'm gary tuckman. it's 6:00 a.m. in atlanta and south carolina. let's give you the news. newt gingrich takes south carolina. >> we proved here in south carolina that people power with the right ideas beats big money, and with your help, we're going to prove it again in florida. >> the former house speaker says he may not have the money, but he can take on mitt romney. we'll take you live to south carolina for the post-primary analysis. >>> despite false reports swirling on social media, former penn state coach joe paterno is alive, but in serious condition. students lit candles in his support. we will take you live to penn state. >>> and search and rescue teams continue working on the italian cruise ship this morning. they stopped briefly overnight for safety issues. we've got the latest in the investigation. plus, new audiotape from the ship's captain. >>> hello, and good morning to everybody. we start with the runaway victory for newt gingrich. in the south carolina republican primary. look at the numbers. it was a double digit win for the former house speaker. easily b

good morning, i'm gary tuckman. itis 6:00 a.m. here in atlanta and in south carolina where the polls are set to open in one hour for the state's primary. you are looking at the cnn express bus. gingrich is creeping up. romney is still the front-runner. today, the two battle it out at breakfast. they will both be at the same diner at the same time. we'll begin talking to tommy or tommy's ham house live this morning. >>> imagine being stuck in a greyhound station for more than 17 hours. that's what happened to these people after a winter storm moved in. heavy snowfall is expected today in parts of the u.s. reynolds wolf will have the latest forecast. >>> but, we start in south carolina where the curtain comes up on the republican presidential primary in a little while from now. where do we stand? paul steinhauser has a quick look. >> reporter: good morning, gary. polls open in an hour from now. so much at stake in this primary. listen, we saw the battle between romney and gingrich two nights ago. romney's lead shrinking in the polls

here's gary tuckman. >> reporter: spend time with newt gingrich, you get the feeling it's now or neverw hampshire voters vote for you tomorrow? >> reporter: what do you need to have happen in new hampshire? >> i think it's already happening. everywhere we go, we have big crowds and people are very positive and i think we'll have a pretty good night tomorrow night. >> reporter: people who are very very positive. but does that includes newt gingrich himself. >> we proved in iowa, you can't survive just by being positive. >> reporter: gingrich is in early attack mode. >> i was having a great time being positive and talking about big ideas and big solutions. i'd be glad to go back to that. i don't believe in unilateral disarmament. >> romney took for ren seed money from latin america. >> reporter: a big weapon is being loaded, a super pac which supports newt gingrich is about to start airing in a 30 minute advocacy film ahead of the south carolina primary, blasting romney. >> a story of greed, playing the system for a quick buck. a group of corporate raiders led by mitt romney. more ruthle

here is gary tuckman. >> reporter: losing by just eight votes to mitt romney is certainly invigoratedk santorum. >> there will be a rematch. we're going to go to new hampshire and take them on. and we're going to run a campaign about my vision for this country. >> we can already tell you quite a bit about his vision for this country. just this past sunday in iowa, santorum was talking about entitlement programs. >> i don't want to make people's lives better by giving them somebody else's money. i want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money. >> reporter: santorum's comment came in a state whereby far most of the public aid recipients are white. although he said he was tongue tied and didn't mean to say the word black but he did mention the word "black" in another situation. it was from january last year regarding comments president obama made about abortion. saying it was above his pay grade to say when a baby is entitled to human rights. >> the question is, this is what barack obama didn't want to answer. is that, is that human life? a person under the constitution.

gary tuckman is at rick santorum headquarters. joe, music behind you. are they getting ready for a little rock 'n' roll? bhas going on? >> that's for sure. this is a ballroom of the raddison hotel in manchester. we wanted to give you a look at some of the retail politicking that's going on here. we have a table i want to show you as people start to trickle in. even before he gets here, a whole group of people, just wanted to go around the table and talk to you about who you voted for. what's your name? >> fred. >> what did you vote for? >> jon huntsman. >> mitt romney. >> what's your name? >> natalie. >> who did you vote for? >> newt. >> you voted for newt gingrich. okay -- >> yes. >> so, you're the person who's here -- >> i'm here, yes. >> and what's your name? >> i'm john and i voted for barack obama. >> oh, so -- you're married to her. she voted for newt gingrich. you voted for barack obama. >> that's right. >> so, how's that working out at home? >> 48 years. >> what's your name? >> jack from massachusetts and if i could have voted, i would have vote