US Politics Developing: "Desperate End"? Santorum Wins Two Southern Primaries (Hanna/Helton)
Wednesday, March 14, 2012 at 8:54Rick Santorum's speech after Tuesday night victories in the Alabama and Mississippi primaries
Rick Santorum marches forward to the next GOP primary battle with wins in Alabama and Mississippi, throwing cold water on rival Mitt Romney's prediction that his campaign was reaching a "desperate end."
Romney, rejected again by Southern conservatives in the Tuesday primaries, was battling for second place with Newt Gingrich.
The latter had staked his campaign on a Southern strategy after winning South Carolina and Georgia.
In Alabama, Santorum won 35% of the vote. Gingrich and Romney both had 29% --- although Gingrich was about 2,000 votes ahead with 99% of the vote counted -- and Ron Paul had 5%.
With 99% of the vote counted in Mississippi, Santorum had 33%. Gingrich was at 31%, Romney at 30% and Paul at 4%. Romney claimed victory in the caucuses of American Samoa, local officials said, while caucus results in Hawaii had yet to come in.