Rick Santorum edged out his two main rivals Tuesday night, pulling out narrow wins over Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney in the Alabama and Mississippi Republican primaries
According to final tallies from the Associated Press, Santorum took 35.5% of the vote in Alabama, with 98% of precincts reporting. Gingrich barely managed to eke out a second place win with 29.3%, followed by Romney with 29%. In Mississippi, Santorum won with 33%, followed by Gingrich with 31% and Romney with 30%, with 99% of the results counted. Ron Paul trailed far behind in both contests, finishing with 5% of the vote in Alabama and 4% in Mississippi.
The twin victories provide a huge boost for Santorum, solidifying his position as the leading Romney alternative as the race heads into the next round of nominating contests.
Speaking to supporters in Louisiana Tuesday night, the former Pennsylvania Senator heralded the wins as a new comeback and called on conservatives to finally coalesce behind his candidacy.
"We did it again!" Santorum told the crowd in Lafayette. "The time is now for conservatives to pull together."
Santorum's new momentum — and Romney's inability to deliver Southern conservative votes — now virtually guarantee that the Republican primary will drag on through the spring. Although Romney's campaign sought to downplay Tuesday's results, the disappointing third-place finishes raise fresh questions about the former Massachusetts Governor's ability to appeal to the GOP base.
To make matters worse for Romney, his campaign had made an aggressive final push in Alabama and Mississippi this week, outspending both Santorum and Gingrich. The candidate himself had seemed confident in the days leading up to the elections, adopting a Southern drawl and gushing over cheesy grits. On Monday, he even predicted that he would win Alabama. And in an interview Tuesday, Romney dismissed his rival, telling CNN that "Senator Santorum is at the desperate end of his campaign."
It's a tactical blunder that could come back to haunt Romney in the upcoming contests. His campaign aides conceded Tuesday night that it will likely take another two months to lock up the delegates needed to win the Republican nomination. That gives Santorum and Gingrich plenty of time to keep proving that Romney's coronation may not be as inevitable as the political world once thought.