Rick Santorum Wins Big in GOP Louisiana Primary

Rick Santorum Wins GOP Louisiana Primary

The GOP Louisiana primary race has been called by CNN  for Rick Santorum. With 23% of the precincts reporting, Santorum has an overwhelming lead at 47% with Mitt Romney a distance second with 27%, followed by Gingrich with 18% and Paul with 6%. The end result, Santorum wins another Southern state.

Rick Santorum will win Saturday’s Republican presidential primary in Louisiana by winning close to majority of the vote, according to early results and exit polling,

Santorum’s win was his fourth in the South, where front-runner Mitt Romney has not been able to connect with conservative voters in the region.

Winning Louisiana big will help fuel Santorum’s campaign as the conservative alternative to Romney.

UPDATE I: The final tally in the Louisiana primaries was a resounding 22 point victory for Rick Santorum:  Santorum 49% and Romney 27%. The focus now shifts to Wisconsin where Rasmussen has Romney up double digits over Santorum.

“People in Louisiana came through in a big way,” Santorum said from a brewery in Green Bay, Wisc. “You didn’t get the memo. We’re still fighting. … I’m not running as the conservative candidate for president. I am the conservative candidate.”

Santorum said Romney called to congratulate him.

“I told him I was in (Wisconsin.) He said he was out in California raising money,” Santorum said. “I said leave a little bit for me. … We’ve always had cordial conversations.”

Mitt Romney Wins Big in Illinois GOP Primary

Mitt Romney wins the GOP primary in Illinois by what is appearing to be a substantial margin over Rick Santorum.

Romney wins big in Illinois

With 27% of the vote counted … the race has been called for Mitt Romney who has 54%, Santorum 30%, Paul 9% and Gingrich last with 7%. Romney was leading in the polls by 10% prior to today’s primary; however, it appears that the margin of victory may be much larger than that.  Romney routs Santorum in the industrial state of Illinois.

Front-runner Mitt Romney won the Illinois primary with ease Tuesday night, defeating Rick Santorum in yet another industrial state showdown and padding his already-formidable delegate lead in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Romney triumphed after benefitting from a crushing advantage in the television advertising wars, and as his chief rival struggled to overcome self-imposed political wounds in the marathon race to pick an opponent to Democratic President Barack Obama.

The Politico ponders what will a double digit win by Romney in Illinois mean for the GOP primary races to come?

The size of Romney’s victory margin will likely determine how the Illinois vote affects the larger GOP race. Should Romney claim a double-digit victory, it could prompt national Republicans to try more aggressively to conclude an already drawn-out primary season.

A narrower victory would leave Romney in much the same place where he was yesterday: with an unshaken lead in delegates and money, but still bogged down in a trench-war campaign against rivals who simply refuse to quit.

Maybe the comment made by Santorum thatt he doesn’t care about the unemployment rate affected last minute voters? Where he meant to say it or not, they fact he did say it and ignorantly so … maybe Rick is not ready for prime time.

Mitt Romney Wins Puerto Rico Primary

Romney wins big in the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico …

CNN is calling the Puerto Rico primary for Mitt Romney. It appears that Romney will win an overwhelming victory over Santorum. With 11% of the vote counted, Romney had 82% of the vote.  20 delegates are up for grabs and because the Romney’s victory appears to be so convincing, Romney will claim all 20 delegates.

Mitt Romney will win Sunday’s Republican presidential primary in Puerto Rico, CNN projects, based on vote results obtained from local party and election officials.

At 6:50 p.m. ET, with about 11% of total ballots accounted for, the former Massachusetts governor had a substantial lead with more than 11,500 votes — or 82% of the votes.

Rick Santorum was a distant second, at 9% with more than 1,200 votes.

See the vote totals HERE. With 18% of the vote in, Romney 83%, Santorum 8%, Gingrich 3% and Paul 1%.

Larry Sabato Looks Into his Crystal Ball and Predicts Mitt Romney Will Dominate GOP Primaries Through April

Larry J. Sabato looks into his political Crystal Ball and says that Mitt Romney will dominate the GOP Presidential primaries through April. Last Tuesday’s “Southern Primary” where Santorum won in Mississippi and Alabama really did not change much of anything. At the evening’s end, with Romney’s victory in Hawaii, he wound up winning the most delegates and that is what the game is all about. However, according to Sabato look for Romney to increase his delegate lead in the up coming months.

Credit: Sabato’s Crystal Ball

That’s because their front-running rival, Mitt Romney, appears poised to further pad his lead in delegates in upcoming Republican nomination contests, starting with Illinois next Tuesday and through a northeastern primary day on April 24.

From now until the end of April, we expect Romney to win not only the majority of nominating contests, but also the majority of delegates awarded in these contests.

It’s fair to ask how Romney’s position can be so strong after finishing third in the two major primaries held on Tuesday, Alabama and Mississippi. The most important thing anyone can do on any primary night is to remember the calendar — not the primary schedule but the general election date. The two Deep South primaries appear critical, yet they will be long forgotten by Labor Day, much less Nov. 6. Barring a massive, difficult to fathom shift in this contest, Mitt Romney has a better than 80% chance to be the GOP nominee. No amount of wild tapping on CNN’s magic wall will alter those odds.

Currently as per RCP, Mitt Romney has 496 delegate and Santorum 236. Romney needs 648 more delegates to gain the nomination while Santorum needs 908. Obviously Romney has an easier path to the nomination. However, at this point the only reason why Santorum and Gingrich as remaining in the race is to gain as many delegates as they can under the premise that a delegate gained is one that Romney cannot. The March goes on to the GOP nomination …

Rick Santorum Did it Again … Wins in Alabama & Mississippi Primaries and Mitt Romney in Hawaii Caucuses

Deep South Tuesday primaries and Hawaii Caucuses …

It was close; however, in the end Rick Santorum wins in the Deep South Alabama and Mississippi primaries.In Alabama it was a virtual tie among Santorum, Gingrich and Romney with the GOP Presidential hopefuls gaining 32.9%, 31.3% and 30.3% respectively. Santorum won in Mississippi with 34.5%, Gingrich 29.3% and Romney with 29.0% .

The triumphs by Mr. Santorum elevated and strengthened his candidacy as the Republican campaign rolls ahead into a state-by-state battle for delegates. An aggressive push by Mr. Romney to try and capitalize on the divided conservative electorate failed to take hold, and he finished third in both states.

“We did it again,” Mr. Santorum said, addressing jubilant supporters in Louisiana, which holds its Republican primary next week. “The time is now for conservatives to pull together.”

In Hawaii, Romney won easily with 45.4% of the vote, Santorum a distant second with 25.3%, Paul with 18.3% and Gingrich last with 11%. At the evenings end, Romny will most likely wind up winning the most delegates when they are proportionally distributed in Alabama, Mississippi and Hawaii.

With Gingrich losing Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi to Santorum, one does have to question whether Newt really is the ‘Southern” candidate. Although, I do not believe in candidates telling others to get out of the race to make it easier for themselves, at some point Newt Gingrich is going to have to read the tea leaves and admit that the voters believe that Santorun is the stronger Conservative GOP candidate.It probably is time for Gingrich to be a statesman and gracefully bow out of the race.

“We did it again,” Mr. Santorum told supporters in Louisiana on Tuesday night. He added: “Ordinary folks can defy the odds, day in, day out.”

The results cast a shadow on the candidacy of Newt Gingrich, who was banking on a sweep of the Deep South to carry him to the nomination. He squeaked into a second-place finish in both states, ahead of Mr. Romney—and vowing to stay in the race.

“Newt has given it a great run, but Santorum has earned a mano-a-mano shot at Romney,” said Keith Appell, a Republican strategist who has worked for a long list of conservative candidates.