(Image Source: Newsy)

BY ALYSSA CARTEE AND VICTORIA CRAIG

Third state. Third winner. Looks like it’s gonna be a long race for the GOP nomination. On Fox News Sunday, Mitt Romney praises Newt Gingrich for his first place win.

“Speaker Gingrich had a good week. I think his debate sparring with Juan Williams was a great opportunity for him to show some strength. It was not a great week for me.”

One of the strong points that helped Gingrich win the Palmetto State was his direct attacks on President Obama.  Gingrich told CNN’s Candy Crowley he won’t back down on the --- quote --  “food stamp president” line despite criticism.

“Do you want a paycheck president, in which case, my years in office, first with Reagan, and then as speaker, combine 27 million jobs created for the American people in those two periods. A pretty good test. Or do you want a food stamp president?”

But fellow candidate, Rick Santorum, told ABC’s “This Week” Gingrich will do more harm to the party than good if he wins the nomination.

“I think he’s a very high-risk candidate. I’ve said that from the very beginning. I get a lot of ideas, brilliant in that respect, but as far as focus, as far as being able to rely on him to come out and deliver that consistent strong message and not undermine our focus.”

Gingrich faced his fair share of press scandal this week when ABC aired an interview with his ex-wife. Gingrich tells CBS’ “Face the Nation” he believes ABC picked sides.

“The way they did it, was almost as though ABC were an arm of the Romney campaign, deliberately trying to set that stage and rig the game. I was amazed how intense the feeling was that night when people just repudiated that trash in a presidential campaign.”

But Romney isn’t taking his loss lying down. He took his fight to the Sunday shows -- taking direct aim at Gingrich.

“I do think conservative values play an enormous role and I think the Speaker has some explaining to do for sitting down on the sofa with Nancy Pelosi and arguing for climate change regulation.”

But Gingrich fired back, hitting at Romney’s record, too.

“I think it’s almost bizarre. Here’s a governor whose staff erased all of the computers for Romneycare. He has released no information about how they developed Romneycare."

Despite his best efforts, Romney couldn’t escape the issue of his tax returns -- but this time around, rather than defending himself, he made a long-awaited announcement.

“I will release my tax returns for 2010, which are the last returns that are completed. I’ll do that on Tuesday of this week. I’ll also at the same time release an estimate for 2011 tax returns.”

And for that, Gingrich praised his toughest competition.

“I think that’s a very good thing he’s doing and I commend him for it. I think it’s exactly the right thing to do. As far as I’m concerned, that particular issue is now set aside.”

With South Carolina in the bag and still no front-runner, the GOP candidates have their sights set on next week’s Florida primary.