MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina (Reuters) – A newly trimmed field of five Republican presidential hopefuls opened a South Carolina debate on Monday that gives front-runner Mitt Romney’s rivals one of their final chances to derail his growing momentum.

The debate came hours after former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman dropped out of the 2012 Republican race and endorsed Romney, bolstering the former Massachusetts governor’s already formidable lead for his party’s nomination. Romney won the first two state nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire this month.

MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina (Reuters) – A newly trimmed field of five Republican presidential hopefuls meets on Monday in a South Carolina debate that gives front-runner Mitt Romney’s rivals one of their final chances to derail his growing momentum.

The debate comes hours after former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman dropped out of the 2012 Republican race and endorsed Romney, bolstering the former Massachusetts governor’s drive for his party’s nomination. Romney won the first two state nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire this month.

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (Reuters) – U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, appearing at a Martin Luther King holiday rally in South Carolina, warned on Monday that voting rights laws are still at risk and said aggressive enforcement of those laws is “a moral imperative.”

Weeks after his Justice Department blocked a South Carolina voter identification law it said would make it harder for tens of thousands of voters, mostly minorities, to cast a ballot, Holder said the principle of electoral equality was still endangered.

ROCK HILL, South Carolina (Reuters) – Republican White House hopeful Newt Gingrich, back on conservative turf in South Carolina, warned on Wednesday that nominating a “moderate” like Mitt Romney was a recipe for defeat in November’s election.

A day after a poor fourth-place finish in New Hampshire, Gingrich urged South Carolina conservatives to rally around his candidacy or face the likelihood Romney will be the Republican nominee to challenge President Barack Obama on November 6.

ROCK HILL, South Carolina (Reuters) – Republican White House hopeful Newt Gingrich, back on conservative turf in South Carolina, warned on Wednesday that nominating a “moderate” like Mitt Romney was a recipe for defeat in November’s election.

A day after a poor fourth-place finish in New Hampshire, Gingrich urged South Carolina conservatives to rally around his candidacy or face the likelihood Romney will be the Republican challenger to President Barack Obama in November.

/ROCK HILL, South Carolina (Reuters) -

Republican presidential contenders brought buckets of cash and sharpened rhetoric to South Carolina on Wednesday for an intense 10-day battle that may define whether anyone can stop front-runner Mitt Romney’s march to the party’s nomination.

Despite fierce attacks from his rivals, the former Massachusetts governor captured neighboring New Hampshire’s primary 16 points ahead of the rest of the field on Tuesday, to go two-for-two at the start of the nomination race after his narrow victory in Iowa’s caucuses a week earlier.

ANDERSON, South Carolina (Reuters) – After rejection in Iowa and surrender in New Hampshire, Republican Rick Perry has pinned his fading presidential hopes on a long-shot resurrection in deeply conservative South Carolina.

But Perry, the Texas governor who jumped to the top of opinion polls when he entered the race in August, trails badly in a state that once seemed tailor-made for his blend of Christian faith and anti-Washington rhetoric.

ANDERSON, South Carolina (Reuters) – After rejection in Iowa and surrender in New Hampshire, Republican Rick Perry has pinned his fading presidential hopes on a long-shot resurrection in deeply conservative South Carolina.

But Perry, the Texas governor who jumped to the top of opinion polls when he entered the race in August, trails badly in a state that once seemed tailor-made for his blend of Christian faith and anti-Washington rhetoric.

GREENVILLE, South Carolina (Reuters) – Religious conservative voters in South Carolina, shaking off months of indecision, are showing signs of movement toward surging Rick Santorum but are still badly split in the Republican presidential race.

Before they jump off the fence, many of those Christian right voters will need to be convinced Santorum is the candidate who can kick President Barack Obama out of the White House.