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Rick Santorum beats Mitt Romney in Louisiana primary

This article is more than 12 years old
Santorum has won the primary but Mitt Romney still remains the favourite to become Republican nominee
Rick Santorum addresses supporters in Wisconsin after Lousiana primary win Reuters

Rick Santorum won the Louisiana Republican presidential primary on Saturday, beating the frontrunner Mitt Romney in the race to challenge President Barack Obama.

"We're still here. We're still fighting. We still believe, as this race really shows," Santorum told supporters in Wisconsin.

Although the victory gives Santorum bragging rights and at least eight more delegates, it does not change the overall dynamics of the race, in which the former Pennsylvania senator still lags behind Romney.

Even so, Santorum's win underlines a pattern in the drawn-out race. The under-funded underdog has tended to win in Bible Belt states that include Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama. Romney has persistently struggled in such heavily conservative regions.

Neither candidate was in the state as Louisiana Republicans weighed in. Nor was the former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who was trailing in Louisiana. With half the precincts counted, Santorum had 49% to 26% for Romney. Gingrich was far back at 17%, followed by Ron Paul with 6%.

Romney took a rare day off on Saturday, with no public events. Santorum spent the day campaigning in Pennsylvania and next-up Wisconsin, which votes on 3 April and represents one of his last chances to beat Romney in a midwestern state.

Santorum told voters in Milwaukee that he expected their state to be "the turning point in this race". In an unmistakable jab at Romney, Santorum added: "Don't make the mistake that Republicans made in 1976. Don't nominate the moderate. When you do, we lose." It was a reference to Ronald Reagan losing the 1976 Republican nomination to the incumbent President Gerald Ford, and the Democrat Jimmy Carter winning the White House.

Early exit polls conducted for the Associated Press and the television networks showed that Santorum's win in Louisiana was one of his strongest performances to date among conservatives, working-class voters and those who cited the economy as their top issue. And he continued his dominance among white evangelical voters and those looking for a candidate who shares their religious beliefs. Santorum topped Romney among evangelical voters by more than two to one.

As in previous southern states, Romney's best showing came among those voters with annual incomes above $100,000 and those who prioritised a candidate's ability to defeat Obama in November.

The bad economy was the top issue for Louisiana voters. Most were gloomy about prospects for a recovery, saying they felt the economy was getting worse instead of better. While some national surveys suggest Americans are feeling optimistic about economic improvement, just one in eight Republican primary voters said they thought a recovery was under way.

Romney is far ahead in the delegate count and on pace to reach the necessary 1,144 delegates before the party's convention in August. With the Louisiana results, Romney leads the overall race for delegates with 563, followed by Santorum with 271, Newt Gingrich with 135 and Ron Paul with 50.

Santorum badly needed a rebound after a key loss to Romney in Illinois earlier in the week that moved party stalwarts to rally around the frontrunner. Many urged Santorum and Gingrich to drop out of the race.

Both refused, and campaigned aggressively in Louisiana in the hope that a victory there would justify them staying in despite Republican worries that the long nomination fight could hurt the party's chances against Obama. The Democratic incumbent faces no serious primary challenge and his re-election campaign already is well under way.

Romney barely campaigned in Louisiana, though his allies spent on TV ads there. Instead, Romney was looking past the results and towards the general election.

The Louisiana exit poll found that in a hypothetical choice between just the two top contenders, Santorum's lead over Romney tops 20 percentage points, suggesting the former senator would pick up votes from Gingrich's and Paul's current supporters.

The next key fight comes in Wisconsin. Romney's campaign is airing TV ads in the state, and his super-PAC allies have spent more than $2m on TV advertising there.

Also voting on 3 April are Maryland and the District of Columbia. There are 95 delegates combined at stake in the three contests.

More on this story

More on this story

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