In case you were wondering, the Louisiana primary of 2012 results are in and Rick Santorum won the state by a very wide margin. While many were concerned over Santorum′s remarks about Mitt Romney, after Romney aide, Eric Ferhnstrom made the now famous ′Etch-A-Sketch′ gaffe, the voters did not mind. Pundits in Washington and New York, both those inside and out of the Republican Party, were all chanting doom for Santorum after they misinterpreted his remarks as meaning keeping Barack Obama in White House is preferable to electing Mitt Romney. This, of course, is not what the former Pennsylvania senator said. But the hysteria brought all of the usual suspects together to launch their attacks. The Louisiana primary, however, put an end to this, hopefully, as Santorum blew away Romney 49% to 26.7%. Newt Gingrich finished third with 15.9%, followed by Rep. Ron Paul with just 6.1%.
The victory sets the stage for next week′s battle in cheese-country, Wisconsin. The April 3 primary also includes Maryland and the District of Columbia, though Santorum is not on the ballot in DC. Santorum has again issued a challenge to debate Romney one-on-one, since he now considers himself to be the only real alternative to the former Massachusetts governor. The Romney campaign has declined, as they consider the race over and they have already won the GOP nomination.
The Louisiana exit polls showed that religion once again played a major role in Saturday′s voting. While the Number One issue remains the economy, White, evangelical voters put Santorum well over the top. They represented some 57% of the voters and 56% went to Santorum. Oddly enough, for those who were most concerned about the economy, Santorum actually beat Romney 46% to 30%. The exit polls also showed that Santorum supporters are the most confident in their candidate. 98% of them believe that he can defeat Barack Obama in November. This compared to 73% of Gingrich voters being confident that Newt can beat Obama while only 58% of Romney voters think he can take on the current occupant of the White House.
Perhaps the Gallup tracking poll, however, tells us the most about the campaign thus far. Mitt Romney is now favored by 40% of Republican voters, compared to about 27% a year ago. Santorum is up to 26% compared to being barely on the radar 12 months ago in the low single digits. So some 60% of Republican voters are still not wild about Mitt Romney. Maybe its because he refuses to set his fine head of hair on fire for the cause?
Rick Santorum won the Louisiana 2012 primary with stunning results, 49% to Mitt Romney′s 26.7%. The battle for the Republican Party nomination now moves to Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia for April 3. Wisconsin is seen as another showdown state between Santorum and Romney. Newt Gingrich is hoping for a better showing there since his wife is from the land of cheese, but I doubt that will mean much. Ron Paul is still in the race, too, to boot Barack Obama from the White House. No reports yet if anyone has seen Eric Ferhnstrom with an Etch-A-Sketch lately. Perhaps he′s writing his resume on one?
March 25th, 2012 at 8:23 am
The interesting thing to me as a gumbo guy is that for the previous two weeks we received virtually no ads by mitt, but were inundated with ads from rick and newt. So, it was sort of the opposite of the previous southern primaries. Mitt’s high water mark, I think, was 31% (only counting north fla, south fla is weird)in the other southern states, and he got 27% yesterday. So he may have one of the smallest ranges in political history for thia region.
March 25th, 2012 at 10:31 am
Is it time for Newt to throw in the towel?
March 25th, 2012 at 1:48 pm
Newt will quit once the money runs out.
March 25th, 2012 at 2:13 pm
The real fun, Arriba, will be to watch how much support Romney gets from ‘The Deep South’ in November, providing he does not self-destruct between now and August. Which, I’m sure, is what Newt and Rick are waiting for. My special contact inside the Beltway told me yesterday that after the initial ‘Etch-A-Sketch’ remark was made by Mitt’s staffer, a whole lot of people in high places were cringing. So much for the rumors about that well-oiled, highly organized Romney campaign machine. According to my source, some people were even bringing up the old ‘brainwash’ thing that torpedoed daddy George.
March 25th, 2012 at 2:39 pm
Well no, the “deep south” will vote GOP as always in November. The battleground will be the swing states: OH, VA, FL, CO, NM, NV, etc.
March 25th, 2012 at 7:42 pm
Prophecy:
The day will come when, if you say you are a “Republican,” you’ll be thrown in jail.
You will someday reap what you have sown.