Santorum’s Campaign Fired Up After Winning Louisiana

Rick Santorum won the state’s Republican presidential primary Saturday with 49.07 percent of the vote, while Mitt Romney followed in second with 26.62 percent, according to results from the Louisiana Secretary of State.

“The results show Rick Santorum’s conservative message strongly resonated with Louisiana Republican voters,” said Roger Villere Jr., chairman of the Republican Party of Louisiana, in a news release. “Louisiana Republicans clearly want a conservative alternative to Barack Obama.”

Under the rules of the Republican Party of Louisiana and the Republican National Committee, candidates must win at least 25 percent of the primary vote in order to receive delegates.

Santorum won 10 of Louisiana’s 20 uncommitted delegates, and Romney won five.

Since Newt Gingrich earned 15.92 percent of the vote and Ron Paul won 6.15 percent, they will not receive any delegates.

The remaining five delegates will remain uncommitted until the National Convention in August.

Saturday’s election drew 185,724 voters, a spike of more than 20,000 from the 161,169 Republicans who voted in the 2008 presidential primary, according to a news release from the Republican Party of Louisiana.

Following Santorum’s significant win in the state, the former Pennsylvania senator said he feels confident in continuing on in the race against Romney.

“A lot of folks are saying this race is over,” Santorum said to CBS news chief White House correspondent Norah O’Donnell. “The people in Louisiana said, ‘No, it’s not,’ and they still want to see someone who they can trust, someone who’s not running an Etch A Sketch campaign, but one that ... has their principles written on their heart — not on an erasable tablet.”

Doré said last week’s polling showed Santorum held a significant lead in the state, but he didn’t expect Santorum to win by such a large margin.

In Texas, voters don't get to vote until May 29th. Many are a bit disgruntled to be left out of the Super Tuesday voting. The delay is due to redistricting court battles.

The concern was that the nation's second-largest state would have no real say in choosing the next Republican nominee for president.

But after Rick Santorum chalked up wins in Alabama and Mississippi last week, although still greatly trailing front-runner Mitt Romney in the delegate count, there is a feeling among many party faithful and political pundits that the momentum is with him. "True conservatives" are giddy about the prospect of Santorum winning enough races between now and June to cause a brokered convention in August.

In the delegate race so far, Romney is way ahead with 565; Santorum has 256; Gingrich has 141, and Ron Paul has 66. The magic number to win is 1, 144.

Still to come, primaries in some 23 states. Today, Santorum campaigns in Wisconsin.