Rick Santorum enters a campaign event in Mississippi
Despite a poor showing in last week’s coveted Super Tuesday primaries, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum made a comeback last night with wins in the open primaries of Mississippi and Alabama.
In his victory speech, oddly made from Louisiana, Santorum told the cheering crowd of supporters, “We did it again.” He also pushed the message that it was “time for conservatives to pull together,” referring to his belief that the Right should unite behind him to defeat Mitt Romney.
Romney is still a strong leader in the overall delegate count of the ongoing primary.
Alabama and Mississippi are states that allocate delegates proportionally, which means that Romney will still add to his total count with last night’s results, despite placing third in both races.
Despite his decreasing relevance, Newt Gingrich announced that he was staying in the race, even going so far as to mock Romney’s showing in the evening’s elections.
“If you’re the front-runner and you keep coming in third, you’re not much of a front-runner,” he said.
According to the Associated Press, Alabama and Mississippi rarely play an important role in a primary, but primaries don’t usually last as long as this one has.
Mississippi’s results were close, with Santorum’s 33% win only narrowly beating Gingrich’s 31% and Romney’s 30%. Alabama was more decisive, with 34.5% of the state swinging toward Santorum, while Gingrich and Romney each claimed 29%.
