Karl Rove says that John King helped Newt Gingrich win in South Carolina. | AP Photos Rove: Newt should thank John King

After Newt Gingrich was declared the winner of the South Carolina primary Saturday night, Karl Rove suggested that the candidate has CNN’s John King to thank for his victory in the Palmetto State.

“Taking on the media is always good in a Republican primary,” Rove said on Fox News. “John King couldn’t have set up the question in a more positive way for Gingrich to just nail it and haul it right out of the park.”


During Thursday’s CNN-sponsored GOP presidential debate, King had kicked off the event by directing his first question at the former House speaker, asking him about an interview with his ex-wife, Marianne, that had aired earlier in the day.

Gingrich responded by lacing into both CNN and the evening’s moderator, “I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that.”

Rove suggested Saturday that debates will continue to be significant in shaping the GOP race as the candidates move on to Florida.

Romney “ought to use this as an opportunity to … explain Bain,” the Republican political strategist said when asked how the candidate should handle next week’s debates. “He also needs to point out Gingrich’s not conservative moments, like attacking Paul Ryan and the House Republican budget as being right wing social engineering.”

As for Gingrich, Rove said: “Newt needs to broaden this message of ‘He’s the Massachusetts moderate and I’m the conservative.’”