Gingrich leads by 13 points with half of S.Carolina vote counted

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (Reuters) - Newt Gingrich was beating his nearest rival, Mitt Romney, by 13 percentage points with half the votes counted in South Carolina's Republican U.S. presidential primary on Saturday.

With 50 percent of the vote counted, Gingrich had pulled in 40 percent of the vote, followed by Romney with 27 percent. Former senator Rick Santorum was in third with 18 percent and Representative Ron Paul in fourth with 13 percent.
All the major television networks had already called the race for Gingrich.
(Reporting by Deborah Charles; Editing by Bill Trott)