Santorum Sweeps Two Deep-South Primaries
March 13, 2012
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum won both the Alabama and Mississippi Republican primaries on March 12. The former senator from Pennsylvania took 35 percent of the vote in Alabama, compared with the 29 percent scored by both Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. In Mississippi, Santorum received 33 percent of the vote, compared with 31 percent for Gingrich and 30 percent for Romney.
Rick Santorum (U.S. Senate)
Political experts suggested that with these victories, Rick Santorum can now claim to be Romney’s only credible rival for the nomination. However, Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, still has a commanding lead in the delegate count in the race to the Republican convention in August–494 out of the 1,144 needed. By comparison, Santorum has 251, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has 131, and Congressman Ron Paul has 48.
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