March 13, 2012 Contests in AL and MS, HI, AS

revised July 11, 2012
"SANTORUM SURGES" - The Birmingham News
"Santorum by a hair" - The Clarion-Ledger [Jackson, MS]
"HAWAII REPUBLICANS SIDE WITH ROMNEY" - Star-Advertiser
"Wins in South for Santorum" - The Wall Street Journal
"Contests in South reshape GOP race" - USA Today
"SANTORUM TAKES 2 RACES IN SOUTH; ROMNEY IS THIRD" - The New York Times
"Santorum Wins in Mississippi and Alabama" - The Washington Post

Speeches and Statements: Romney (1, 2)  |  Santorum  |  Republicans  |  Democrats

The three states and territory will send 119 delegates to the convention in Tampa (+).  The Gingrich, Romney, and Santorum campaigns actively competed in the primaries in Alabama and Mississippi.  These contests were seen as being close to must-wins for Newt Gingrich; indeed there was some talk that he would get out of the race if he did not win.  Gingrich fell short, but vowed to press on.

Santorum provided the surprise of the night, winning in both Southern states and getting a big boost in momentum. 

Romney lost another opportunity to "seal the deal."  Indeed, the DNC dubbed it "Mitt Romney's Dixie Debacle" and noted that Mitt Romney and his allies outspent Santorum 3-to-1 in Mississippi and 5-to-1 in Alabama.  Romney could claim a measure of success as the Alabama and Mississippi delegates were split proportionally.  Further, Romney accrued the majority of delegates in the contests in Hawaii and American Samoa.  

Hawaii did not get nearly as much attention.  Paul, Romney and Santorum sent their kids to campaign there, and the results were reported the next morning.  It was Santorum's two Southern wins that made the headlines, and led many observers to predict a long campaign still to come.


Alabama
Republican Primary
official

BACHMANN
 GINGRICH
 HUNTSMAN
PAUL
 PERRY
 ROMNEY
 		SANTORUM
 UNCOMM.
 TOTAL

1,700
0.27%
 182,194
29.30%
 		1,044
0.17%
 30,902
4.97%
 		1,865
0.30%
 180,244
28.99%
 		214,540
34.51%
 		9,242
1.49%
 621,731

50 Delegates / 47 Elected Delegates: Rick Santorum - 22   Newt Gingrich - 13   Mitt Romney -12
Democratic Primary: Barack Obama 83.2% Uncommitted 16.8%.
March 11, 2012 - Secretary of State Beth Chapman predicted a turnout of 28.9 percent of the more than 2.6 million active voters.


Mississippi
Republican Primary
official

BACHMANN
 GINGRICH
 		HUNTSMAN JOHNSON
 PAUL
PERRY
 ROMNEY
 		SANTORUM
 		TOTAL

969
0.33%
 91,499
31.14%
 412
0.14%
 391
0.13
 12,941
4.40%
 1,350
0.46%
 90,069
30.66%
 96,156
32.73%
 293,787



Hawaii
Send in the Kids

Republican Caucus
official: 45 of 45 precincts

GINGRICH
PAUL
 ROMNEY
 		SANTORUM
 TOTAL

1,116
10.9%
 		1,975
19.3%
 		4,548
44.5%
 		2,589
25.3%
 		10,228
20 Delegates (3 RNC; 11 at-large; 6 by CD): Romney - 9    Santorum - 5    Paul - 3