Santorum Wins Alabama, Mississippi; Pledges to ‘Compete Everywhere’
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Sean Gardner/Getty Images(LAFAYETTE, La.) — Rick Santorum won both Alabama and Mississippi Tuesday night, sweeping the Super Tuesday of the South and cementing the notion that this is truly a two-man battle with Mitt Romney.
The former Pennsylvania senator walked out on stage in Lafayette, La., to cheers after the polls closed and said, “We did it again!”
Flanked by his wife Karen and three of his children, Santorum immediately took a jab at Romney, who earlier in the day said Santorum was at the “desperate end” of his campaign.
“People are saying you’ve been outspent and you know, everybody’s talking about all the math and all the things in this race is inevitable,” Santorum said. “Well, for someone who thinks this race is inevitable, he spent a whole lot of money against me for a race that was inevitable.”
Vastly outspent by Romney in Mississippi and Alabama, Santorum was still able to take them both. He told supporters at a hotel Tuesday evening that his is a “grassroots campaign.”
“We will compete everywhere, we will compete everywhere,” Santorum said. “The time is now for conservatives to pull together. The time is now to make sure, make sure that we have the best chance to win this election and the best chance to win this election is to nominate a conservative to go up against Barack Obama who can take him on in every issue.”
The candidate runs his campaign like none of his current competitors or even like the campaigns he ran previously: There is no bus, no headquarters and his staff is scaled down.
“Who would have ever thought in the age of media that we have in this country today that ordinary folks across this country can defy the odds day in and day out,” Santorum said.
Santorum chose to give his speech in neither Mississippi or Alabama and instead went to Louisiana, which votes on March 24. He looked directly into the camera and pledged to Louisiana voters he would end the “extreme environmental policies of this administration.”
“We wanted to be here in Lafayette,” Santorum said. “We will put this town back to work so you can have a better quality of life.”
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