Santorum Scores Again In The South

The proverbial thorn in Mitt Romney's side, just won't go away. Louisiana gave Rick Santorum a 22 point victory in Saturday's Primary there. He carried every parish in the state except Orleans, home of New Orleans, which went to Romney. So we have yet another dispatch from the bumpkin belt voicing its unhappiness with the front runner Romney. The result comes as no surprise, and only stands as another example of Romney's inability to win in the south. In fact if you look at his numbers, excluding Florida (which isn't a true southern state), and Virginia, (where Santorum & Gingrich were not on the ballot), he can't seem to break the 31% mark. It should be noted that in the northern part of Florida, which is representative of the true south, Gingrich won hands down.

Romney's Southern Problem

South Carolina: 28%
Georgia: 26%
Tennessee: 28%
Alabama: 29%
Mississippi: 31%
Louisiana: 27%
Oklahoma: 28%

Despite the fact that he doesn't appeal to these states in the primaries, If I was Romney I wouldn't be overly concerned either that these states will go to Obama in November. They are all solid red bastions. However, it does raise some questions about the "solid south", that may give former Governor Romney pause. While it hasn't been talked about that much, the evangelical social conservative rubes that litter the landscape of the bumpkin belt, have a real problem with Romney's Mormon faith. They also don't see him as a true conservative. Romney's appeal has consistently been in the affluent suburban city areas, not the overwhelmingly rural areas that blanket the south. So the issue is this, we all know the majority of these states are going to vote for Romney, but will the electorates faith prevent them from embracing a candidate many see as being part of a cult? My guess is, probably not. Why? Because their hatred for Obama runs deeper than their religion. Which if you think about it, is a sad commentary on those who will be driven to the polls by that fact.

As for Father Rick, should he remain in the fight for the long haul, I can see him picking up 7 to 9 more states. The next one being Wisconsin a week from Tuesday. However, the writing is on the wall, and April is going to be a good month for Romney. My thought is this, the longer Romney has to fight Santorum, the better it is for the President. So here's to a long and bloody primary fight that carries us into June.