COLUMBIA Newt Gingrich, the once - and future - Republican presidential polling leader in South Carolina?

Gingrich, the former speaker of the U.S. House, trails former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney by from 4 to 7 percentage points in South Carolina, according to a trio of polls released Friday, eight days before the state's first-in-the-South primary.

The polls show Gingrich separating himself - at this point, anyway - from the other social conservatives in the race, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Texas Gov. Rick Perry. Both have been counting on a strong S.C. showing to establish themselves as the GOP's "not-Romney" candidate.

Gingrich's standing also keeps alive questions about how much enthusiasm GOP voters have for Romney, who followed a narrow win in the Iowa caucuses earlier this month with a stronger - but still less than 40 percent - win in New Hampshire Tuesday.

"He had this base of support," said Robert Oldendick, a political scientist at the University of South Carolina, of Gingrich. "There is a group of voters here who remember how he got to be speaker. They remember the Contract with America, welfare reform. It's not just baggage."

A Rasmussen survey of 750 likely Republican voters found Romney was the choice of 28 percent. Gingrich was second at 21 percent, followed by Santorum and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, tied at 16 percent.

An American Research Group survey of 600 likely Republican voters had Romney out front with 29 percent. Gingrich was second at 25 percent, within the poll's 4 percentage-point margin of error.

Paul, at 20 percent, was third in the American Research poll, a fact he touted. "On the heels of his competitive showings in Iowa and New Hampshire, Ron Paul is now surging in the key early voting state of South Carolina," said Paul's campaign chairman, Jesse Benton.

Public Policy Polling had Romney leading with 29 percent, and, again, Gingrich was second at 24 percent.

Together, the polls show former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman - last in all three - is a nonfactor in South Carolina. Meanwhile, Santorum's hopes for a resurgence are fading, and S.C. voters seem uninterested in Perry.

A Winthrop Poll conducted in late November and early December found Gingrich led Romney for the S.C. nomination. As the Iowa caucuses approached, however, a political action committee that supports Romney unleashed a stream of TV ads strongly critical of Gingrich, and he faded to the middle of the pack.

Now, Gingrich appears to be regaining his South Carolina footing.