Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum won the Alabama and Mississippi primaries Tuesday, pulling off a pair of surprise victories and boosting his claim to be the conservative alternative to Republican front-runner Mitt Romney."People have said 'You're being outspent,' and people are talking about the math and that this race is inevitable," a jubilant Mr. Santorum told supporters as the results came in, referring to Mr. Romney. "For someone who thinks this race is inevitable, he spent a whole lot of money against me."
The outcome will likely renew calls from some conservatives for Mr. Gingrich to exit the race and cede to Mr. Santorum the role of conservative challenger to Mr. Romney. Many political strategists believe Messrs. Santorum and Gingrich have split the conservative vote, and that either one of them alone would perform more strongly against the former Massachusetts governor.
Mr. Gingrich's only primary victories so far have come in South Carolina and Georgia, which he represented in Congress. With losses in Alabama and Mississippi, his path to the nomination is unclear. His supporters have suggested in recent days he wouldn't depart the race regardless of Tuesday's results, but they may not have been prepared for a double Santorum win.
Mr. Romney wasn't initially expected to do well in the South, given his Northern roots and relatively centrist record. But polls in recent days suggested he was closing the gap, and his campaign made a late bid for an upset.
Although that bid failed Tuesday, with Mr. Romney in third place in both contests, his campaign was already arguing that he would win roughly one-third of the delegates. He is favored to win in Hawaii and American Samoa, which also vote Tuesday but whose outcome will not be known until Wednesday morning.
Texas Rep. Ron Paul, the other candidate in the race, did not contest Alabama or Mississippi and trailed by a significant margin.
The result was an undeniable boost for Mr. Santorum in his bid to position himself as the conservative alternative to Mr. Romney.
"I don't think there was a single poll that had me anywhere close to a win in Mississippi," Mr. Santorum told supporters. He added, "This campaign is about ordinary folks...going out there and exceeding expectations, defying the odds, because we believe in something bigger than ourselves."
Mr. Romney did not speak Tuesday night.
The Romney campaign had devoted last-minute resources to put its candidate over the top. Mr. Romney made a hastily scheduled visit to Mobile, Ala., on Monday, and an outside group supporting his candidacy spent nearly $2.3 million in Alabama and Mississippi.
Patrick O'Connor on The News Hub has the latest on today's primaries in the South and whether they can produce a game-changing victory for Mitt Romney or confirm that the GOP battle is likely to drag on for the foreseeable future.
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