WASHINGTON – Rick Santorum easily won the Louisiana Republican primary on Saturday night, capturing a deeply conservative state with a hefty portion of the kind of evangelical Christian voters who have helped him claim victories in 10 other states.
The win gave Mr Santorum a much needed psychological boost but it will be unlikely to change the dynamics of the race.
Only 20 delegates were up for grabs on Saturday, with 26 more to be allocated later. Even if Mr Santorum were to claim most of them, he would still have only half the delegates that Mitt Romney, his chief rival, already has.
Mr Romney’s win last week in Illinois, as well as his endorsement by Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida, dimmed Mr Santorum’s political prospects, although his victory in Louisiana showed he could still complicate Mr Romney’s efforts to capture the 1,144 delegates he needs.
In a fundraising letter sent out Saturday night, Mr Santorum said the results in Louisiana had sent “shock waves” through the political world.
“Tonight with our strong victory in Louisiana, our campaign has now won 11 states, tying a record and proving we can win in the west, south and midwest,” the letter said. “Not since Ronald Reagan in 1976 has a conservative candidate won as many states as we have.”
The reference was significant, to the year President Gerald R. Ford won more delegates to the Republican convention than Reagan but not enough to secure the nomination. Ford did win the nomination and lost the election to Jimmy Carter, but Reagan came roaring back to win in 1980. Some analysts are already talking about a Santorum candidacy in 2016.
Newt Gingrich’s third-place performance in Louisiana was an embarrassing setback for a candidate who had hoped to perform well in Southern states to rescue his flailing candidacy. In fact, the returns suggested that both he and Ron Paul would fail to acquire any delegates at all.
Despite Mr Santorum’s victory, the states that vote next – most of them in the Northeast – are considered more favourable to Mr Romney.
Mr Gingrich, despite his poor showing, seems intent on staying in the race. On Friday he said he would not quit even if he made no progress in Louisiana toward his goal of depriving Romney of delegates. “I have no incentive to get out of the race,” he said. “I have every incentive to talk about big ideas and watch Obama dance on energy. Where was the energy issue three weeks ago before I started talking about it?”
Meanwhile senior Obama adviser David Plouffe said yesterday that the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination at times resembled “a circus show, a clown show”.
Mr Plouffe was responding to criticism by Mr Gingrich and Mr Santorum of Mr Obama’s comments on the racially charged case of Trayvon Martin, the black teenager allegedly killed by a neighbourhood-watch volunteer in Florida.
Mr Santorum accused Mr Obama of “politicising” the case; Mr Gingrich said Mr Obama was “dividing this country up”.
Mr Plouffe said: “I don’t think there’s very many people in America that would share that reaction. You know, this Republican primary at some points has been more of a circus show, a clown show and those two comments are really irresponsible. I would consider them reprehensible.”
Of Mr Gingrich specifically, Mr Plouffe said on ABC’s This Week: “Speaker Gingrich is clearly in the final throes of his political career.” – (New York Times service, Bloomberg)