Free Republic

5 PM ET: NETWORK EXITS SHOW ALABAMA TIGHT; ROMNEY TAKES MISSISSIPPI... DEVELOPING DRUDGE POLLS HAVE CORRECTLY PREDICTED EVERY RACE

A new poll released on the eve of Rick Santorum’s first campaign visit to Alabama shows the former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania leading in the state Republican Party presidential primary. The statewide poll conducted by Alabama State University’s Center for Leadership and Public Policy showed 22.7 percent of likely Republican voters supported Santorum, who is scheduled to make campaign appearances Thursday in Huntsville and Mobile. Former Massachussetts Gov. Mitt Romney trailed Santorum with 18.7 percent, followed by Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House from neighboring Georgia, with 13.8 percent. The telephone poll of 470 likely GOP voters showed...

Rick Santorum's campaign is calling on conservatives to pressure Newt Gingrich to abandon his bid for the White House, a senior adviser told reporters tonight. Senior campaign strategist John Brabender said the key for the campaign going forward will be creating an opportunity to challenge Mitt Romney one-on-one, though Brabender maintained the Santorum campaign would not directly call on Gingrich to drop out of the race. "We're never going to call on anybody to get out, but what we are calling is on Tea Party supporters and conservatives is to rally behind the only candidate that has demonstrated over and...

"I'm not a manager. I'm not a visionary," he told the crowd in an apparent reference to his GOP rivals Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. "I'm a guy from a steel town who grew up understanding what made this country great and for the years that I've been involved in public life, put my heart and my effort on the line to make this country the kind of country that we all want to hand on to our children and grandchildren." Santorum also touched on the fight over who's the real "Washington insider," saying the only reason Romney wasn't a...