Santorum Wins Mississippi and Alabama Primaries [Gingrich Vows To Continue To Tampa]

MSNBC ^ | March 13, 2012 | Michael O'Brien,

[Steelfish]

Santorum Wins Mississippi and Alabama Primaries

By Michael O'Brien, msnbc.com -- Rick Santorum scored victories in the Mississippi and Alabama primaries on Tuesday, depriving Mitt Romney of a signature win in a conservative stronghold and raising fresh doubts about the viability of Newt Gingrich's campaign.

The former Pennsylvania senator made his case for being the lone, serious Republican challenger to Romney for the remainder of the primary by besting Gingrich in states the former speaker's campaign had previously said were essential to its long-term viability.

“We did it again,” Santorum said to wild applause from supporters in Louisiana, and amid projections by NBC News that he would win both Mississippi and Alabama.

Romney had hoped to score a victory in Mississippi, thereby proving his ability to win a state that composes part of the heart of the modern GOP. But he appeared to be heading to a third-place finish in both contests, failing to even surpass Gingrich, a candidate who’s weathered growing calls to exit the race.

A former governor of Massachusetts, Romney acknowledged these contests were an “away game” for a figure like him, marking an effort to set low expectations for how he might finish in the contests.

John David Mercer / AP Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney greets supporters who braved the rain during a campaign stop at the Whistle Stop Cafe, Monday, March 12, 2012 in Mobile, Ala.

The Romney campaign was able to pick up delegates in both states, contributing to its march to collect the 1,144 delegates needed to secure the nomination. His campaign was also likely to pick up those crucial delegates in Hawaii's caucuses, which were set to take place overnight. A total of 107 delegates were up for grabs between the three states on Tuesday.

[GulfBreeze]

Except that your guy has never been ahead of Obama in the polls while Santorum has spent quite a lot of time (including right now) ahead of Obama.

[kempster]

This primary season has been very eye opening for me. Many of those that I felt to be solid Conservatives have been exposed as establishment shills. Pawlenty, Christie, and Snyder are just a few that come to mind and will never get my vote for dog catcher.

[madison10]

Rick Santorum is possibly the only guy running who would likely lose to Obama, even with Obama tanking in his own polls.

That mantra is getting old. If Rick is so awful, if so many people AREN'T going to vote for him, then why is he winning so many states? Obviously he's doing something right. How 'bout Newt drop out sooner rather than later? If staying in until the convention will keep 0 on edge then fine, but he needs to get out of the way of the other conservative running when the time comes.

[JoSixChip]

"the Rats are praying for Santorum."

Of course they are. Can you imagine santorum debating obumber with a hostel msm moderator. You think bush was bad for the conservative cause, this scenario will all but destroy what is left of the conservative movement. The only good news would be that I doubt the rnc could survive a santorum nomination.

[weston]

Democrats continue to vote for Santorum in open primaries. He’ll be toast in the general against Obama.

[no dems]

I’ve already said tonight that Newt is my man, but, he needs to go. It would be nice if the Casino mogul who is financing the Super Pac for Newt, would now join forces with the billionare who is financing Rick’s Super Pac. They could team up and both back Santorum and run attack ads on RINO-Rom and give him a taste of his own medicine.

[tcrlaf]

“Problem - Ricky would get rolled by Obama.”

Mc-Santor-Cain

ARE WE GONNA MAKE THIS MISTAKE AGAIN, FOLKS?

[Yashcheritsiy]

the Rats are praying for Santorum.

Of course they are - that's why Santorum has received virtually no vetting so far. And he won't, unless he manages to squeak out the nomination. Then he will be hit from every angle and his inability to stay on task and control his tongue will send him to a flaming landslide loss.

Every Democrat I've talked to - and I mean every last mother's son among them - has emphatically hoped that the GOP nominates Santorum, even more so than Ron Paul. The GOPer they are most scared of tends to divide evenly between Newt and Romney.

[GulfBreeze]

Sigh... You’re whistling past the graveyard. Newt is going to go from hurting the Conservative movement to hurting his own reputation if he doesn’t get out soon. He is nothing more than a spoiler now...

[Red Steel]

Just imagine what Santorum could do, if had all that Casino Owners money like Newt.

Not so saintly Santo has his big time Super Pac supporters.

Oh, here is Ricky not being truthful and getting caught at fibbing:

"Rick Santorum on Thursday afternoon slipped away from the campaign trail to speak to a fundraiser for a supportive super PAC, despite denying previous reports that he planned to do so.

The fundraiser drew between 20 and 25 donors to a gated country club in Dallas where Santorum spoke for about half-an-hour about the previous evening’s debate and the upcoming primaries, then chatted briefly with supporters, according to a source familiar with the event...."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/73262.html#ixzz1p3kqrqKF

[Steelfish]

John King just sketched in a scenario on CNN whereby if Gingrich leaves now, Santorum could catch up to Romney’s delegate count. But it would be IMPOSSIBLE to do so if Gingrich continues in the race.

Time for true conservatives to now demand that Gingrich quit. He was a spoiler in WA, MI, and OH. Enough is enough unless we want Romney. Interestingly, on Super Tuesday Carl Cameron reported on FoxNews that the Romney camp is “happy” to have Gingrich in the race. Gingrich’s sugar-daddy dropped him a $20m rope because he dislikes Santorum’s social conservative views and is a strong supporter of Israel and likes Gingrich’s idea of wanting to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem- a move that every American president since 1980 has been unwilling to do.

Gingrich has been described as an erratic and unstable “Hindenberg ready to explode” and it will we who will end up sweeping the debris if he helps Romney get the nomination.

[Yashcheritsiy]

If Rick is so awful, if so many people AREN'T going to vote for him, then why is he winning so many states?

Because what it takes to win Republican primaries and what it takes to win the general election are not the same thing.

[Yashcheritsiy]

If Rick is so awful, if so many people AREN'T going to vote for him, then why is he winning so many states?

Because what it takes to win Republican primaries and what it takes to win the general election are not the same thing.

[dps.inspect]

“...Newt is rising, and Santorum is dropping...” la la la... La LA LAAA... la la LA... laaa laaa laaaaaaa la la... la la... la... la... l... l... ... ... .. .. . “o

[Utmost Certainty]

Newsflash to Santorumites: You need Gingrich to stay in the race in order to deprive Romney from hitting 1,144.

In a 1-1 with Romney vs. Santorum, Santorum would be far less competitive; this has already been demonstrated in Ohio and Michigan.

Mind you, not all Gingrich voters would go Santorum’s way. Also, it’s good that he stays in to keep Romney divided on two fronts.

[Red Steel]

Time for true conservatives to now demand that Gingrich quit.

Another problem, your guy is not a completely 'true conservative' candidate.

[no dems]

WHY NEWT IS STAYING IN: Newt cannot stand Mitt Romney and he does not want Mitt Romney to get the GOP nomination. He said a few minutes ago, on FOX, that if he dropped out, Mitt Romney would have only one candidate on whom to spend all his money and spew all his venom. Newt feels that by staying in, he forces RINO-Rom to divide his money, energy and false, attack ads between two candidates rather than zeroing in on just one.

[Antoninus]

I'm ok with Newt staying in. He can't win at this point, but he can make Romney's life really difficult by picking his spots and running hard against Mitt in some key states. I just hope he doesn't hand Romney any more victories in winner-take-all states like he did in Michigan and Ohio.

NOW is the time for us to unite to defeat Romney--and it looks like Santorum is the man.

[Steelfish]

“the Rats are praying for Santorum.”

Don’t be deceived. They fear Santorum the most because he connects with blue-collar voters and Reagan Democrats. If any of the battleground states like OH, PA, or other rust-belt states go for Santorum, its all over for Obama. Gingrich has baggage to bring down a fleet of commercial airliners and his unfavorability ratings are through the cellar and suffers from a Grand Canyon-size gender gap.

[Red Steel]

Newt stated (post 77) on Fox mirrors what you said.