Santorum goes to dinner and comes up with a win

Woody Allen once said that "80 percent of life is showing up."

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum sure believes it. He was the only potential presidential candidate to accept the South Carolina GOP's invitation to its annual Silver Elephant fund-raising dinner Friday, a day after the first debate of the 2012 primary campaign.

The diligence paid off: Santorum crushed the opposition in a straw poll of dinner attendees. He took 150 of 408 votes, or 37 percent. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was a distant second with 15 percent (61 votes)