Santorum slows Romney’s march with southern sweep (Lead)
March 14th, 2012 - 7:33 pm ICT by IANS
Washington, March 14 (IANS) In a sharp retort to frontrunner Mitt Romney’s prediction that his campaign was reaching a “desperate end”, Rick Santorum turned the Republican nomination battle into a two-man race with wins in Alabama and Mississippi.
Former Massachusetts governor Romney, rejected again by Southern conservatives in the Tuesday primaries, was battling for second place with former speaker Newt Gingrich, who too had banked on the two southern states after winning South Carolina and Georgia.
However, Romney won a consolation prize in Tuesday’s races with victories in the caucuses of Hawaii and the US territory of American Samoa.
In Alabama, former senator Santorum won 35 percent of the vote. Gingrich and Romney both had 29 percent-although Gingrich was about 2,000 votes ahead with 99 percent of the vote counted. House member Ron Paul had five percent.
With 99 percent of the vote counted in Mississippi, Santorum had 33 percent. Gingrich was at 31 percent, Romney at 30 percent and Paul at four percent.
“We did it again,” Santorum, whose Alabama and Mississippi victories give him 10 wins to Romney’s 18, told supporters Tuesday night in Lafayette, Louisiana, which will hold a Republican primary March 24.
The state’s Indian American governor Bobby Jindal is yet to endorse any of the four remaining candidates vying for the right to challenge President Barack Obama in November.
Santorum’s wins in Alabama and Mississippi are somewhat of a surprise, because polls released Monday showed Santorum running 8-10 points behind Romney and Gingrich in the two states.
Still, because Alabama’s 47 delegates and Mississippi’s 37 delegates will be awarded proportionally, Romney appeared to maintain his delegate lead and may add to this after more moderate Hawaii’s 17 delegates are distributed.
A CNN delegate estimate early Wednesday showed Romney with a 489-234 lead over Santorum, giving him a 255-delegate margin.
The estimate had Gingrich at 139 delegates and Paul at 66. The number of delegates needed to clinch the nomination is 1,144.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
- Santorum sweeps south; setback for Romney - Mar 14, 2012
- Romney faces tough fight in deep South (Lead) - Mar 13, 2012
- Romney pads up lead as Santorum wins Kansas - Mar 11, 2012
- Romney faces tough fight in deep South - Mar 13, 2012
- Romney, Santorum face showdown in Obama's home state - Mar 20, 2012
- Romney wins six, but fails to deliver a knockout (Second Lead) - Mar 07, 2012
- Romney pulls ahead, but Ohio still hangs in balance (Lead) - Mar 07, 2012
- Romney scores decisive win in Illinois primary - Mar 21, 2012
- Santorum wins Louisiana to slow down Romney - Mar 25, 2012
- Front-runner Romney wins Republican primary in Illinois - Mar 21, 2012
- Super Tuesday: Contenders share spoils - Mar 07, 2012
- Romney sweeps five states, readies to battle Obama - Apr 25, 2012
- Romney coasts to second victory in a row - Feb 05, 2012
- Romney thumps Gingrich, regains momentum - Feb 01, 2012
- Three wins tighten Romney grip on Republican ticket - Apr 04, 2012
Tags: american governor, barack obama, bobby jindal, caucuses, cnn, consolation prize, lafayette louisiana, man race, massachusetts governor romney, mitt romney, newt gingrich, primaries, republican nomination, retort, rick santorum, ron paul, senator santorum, southern states, speaker newt gingrich, territory of american samoa