Santorum Leads Latest Louisiana Polls; Newt Gingrich at LSU Tonight — Maybe

Posted on | March 22, 2012 | 55 Comments

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama
Looking at the Politico candidate calendar, it’s slim pickings on the presidential campaign trail in Louisiana today: Mitt’s in DC, Rick Santorum’s got an event in San Antonio, Texas, and Newt Gingrich is scheduled for an 8 p.m. Tea Party forum at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Meanwhile, we have a new Rasmussen poll:

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum is comfortably ahead in Louisiana with that state’s Republican Primary just two days away.
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely GOP Primary Voters in Louisiana finds Santorum with a 12-point lead over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney – 43% to 31%. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich who has pinned his hopes on capturing other Southern states beyond South Carolina and his native Georgia runs a distant third with 16% support. Texas Congressman Ron Paul comes in last with five percent (5%).

That result is included in a press release from the Santorum campaign that also includes this:

A Magellan Strategies poll of over 2,000 likely Republican voters finds that Rick Santorum leads Mitt Romney by a 37 – 24 margin.
Republican Presidential Contest:
Santorum:         37%
Romney:           24%
Gingrich:           21%
If Gingrich is removed from the race, 61% of Gingrich’s supporters would choose Rick Santorum, while only 22% of Gingrich supporters would choose Romney.

Leading by double digits two days before Saturday’s primary, then, Santorum’s schedule currently shows just one more event in Louisiana (Friday morning in Monroe) but why doesn’t Gingrich have a full campaign schedule today? Maybe . . .

Money problems underscore challenges
for Newt Gingrich’s campaign
Newt Gingrich’s financial problems and his fourth-place finish in the Illinois primary Tuesday underscore his serious challenges going forward in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
Gingrich’s campaign reported that it was $1.6 million in debt at the end of February, compared with $1.5 million it held in the bank, according to campaign filings released Tuesday night. . . .

One of our longtime readers sent me an e-mail yesterday grumbling about my use of the phrase “the bankrupt Newt.” My apologies for the offense, but . . . Neutral Objective Fact. Speaking of which, the best news story I could find about Gingrich’s event in Baton Rouge tonight was in the LSU student paper, the Reveille:

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich will make an appearance on campus Thursday at a Tea Party forum hosted by the LSU College Republicans.
The event is a Tea Party forum and straw poll, according to Austin Stukins, state grassroots coordinator for Louisiana Team Gingrich 2012. Stukins is an interior design junior at the University.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the event was planned for 8 p.m. in the Cox Auditorium. However, due to scheduling confusion, Baton Rouge Tea Party Treasurer Mark Holmes is working with Michelle Lowery, the University’s associate director for student involvement, to coordinate the event. Holmes said if the auditorium is unavailable, Lowery will book a different location.
Mark Holmes said Gingrich confirmed his appearance Tuesday afternoon. The Baton Rouge Tea Party is also extending the invitation to other presidential candidates.
Holmes said the event will include a forum and a straw poll.

It’s a 6-hour drive to Baton Rouge and I’ve got to get rolling pretty soon, but here’s some stuff to chew on:

Mitt Romney loves him some bailouts!
Yesterday’s hottest Twitter meme? “Etch-a-Sketch“!
Headline at The New Republic: “When Romney Liked High Gas Prices.” Now that the Romney campaign has spent millions unloading its oppo-research files on his conservative rivals, the liberal media will start unloading David Axelrod’s oppo-research files on Mitt.
Call-girl claims John Edwards was one of her clients. The big question: Can we call either of them “sluts”?
Erick Erickson explains why he finds “so many up and coming political pundits so aggravating.” Howdy, thank you . . .

OK, that’s it: Gotta hit the road. I’m going from Alabama to Louisiana. Banjo on the knee? Purely optional.

UPDATE: Katrina Trinko at National Review:

Newt Gingrich has been talking up his chances at the convention. But it turns out that he would need to win at least five states to be eligible to be nominated in the first round of voting at the convention, reports ABC News, something that could complicate his convention strategy significantly

Math: Secret Weapon of the “Elite Media”!

UPDATE II: Headline from The Washington Post:

Why Louisiana could stop
Romney’s Southern slide

Headline from The Other McCain:

DRUG USE RAMPANT AT WASHINGTON POST;
STAFFERS ABUSING WEIRD HALLUCINOGENS

UPDATE III: Ed Morrissey at Hot Air is not on drugs, and clearly sees what looms in Louisiana for Gingrich:

Newt Gingrich has parked himself in the Pelican State in a last-ditch effort to regain some momentum, but this [Rasmussen] poll has nothing but bad news for him. . . . There isn’t much room for him to get traction against either candidate in front of him, and a poor third-place showing in the South would probably mean the end of his campaign, especially if he can’t win any delegates in Louisiana. A shutout would end whatever credibility he has left as a candidate even in a delegate-gathering sense.

Category: Election 2012, Louisiana, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Polls, Rick Santorum, Shoe Leather Fund

Comments

55 Responses to “Santorum Leads Latest Louisiana Polls; Newt Gingrich at LSU Tonight — Maybe”

ThomasD
March 22nd, 2012 @ 12:59 pm

Mitt Romney thinks the government‘ saved’ the economy?

There’s a surprise.
ThomasD
March 22nd, 2012 @ 1:01 pm

And Erickson thinks other people are doing it wrong?

Another shocker.
ThomasD
March 22nd, 2012 @ 1:04 pm

John Edwards paid for sex?

ok. that’s a gag too far.

Almost had a trifecta though…
Datechguy's Blog » Blog Archive » You want the Durham light infantry Sir » Datechguy's Blog
March 22nd, 2012 @ 1:12 pm

[…] 2012 I have a much more serious post that I’m working on but when I saw this passage from Stacy McCain’s post today via the LSU student Newspaper: Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich will make an […]
Bob Belvedere
March 22nd, 2012 @ 1:34 pm

One more for the Grand Slam, Thomas – go for it!
BradleyHarman
March 22nd, 2012 @ 1:36 pm

Evangelicals will get another chance to tell the world what they think about the Mormon faith.

Too bad Santorum will only net a meaningless amount of delegates over it.

What a selfish person to keep this going. If Santorum won EVERY state from here on out it wouldn’t be enough, he’d need to win states like Louisiana with around 70% of the vote.
Bob Belvedere
March 22nd, 2012 @ 1:43 pm

Off Topic: Stacy, Breitbart’s Larry O’Connor has a report up on Jazzy McBikeshorts, aka: ‘Liberal Non-Entity’.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2012/03/22/Critics-Falsely-Proclaim-Breitbart-Redesign-Failure
Pathfinder's wife
March 22nd, 2012 @ 1:55 pm

Whoa, so any loss in the South is “evangelicals hating on Mormons”?
Don’t you think it could maybe, possibly, just a teensy-weensy bit be something other than religious bigotry? Not caring for a canidates political record perhaps? Or maybe some of the campaign messaging possibly?

Is this going to be the excuse if he loses the nomination (probably unlikely) and/or loses in the general (I’m thinking a high chance of occurring at this point)? It’s all the evangelicals and socons faults because they hate Mormons or something?
ThomasD
March 22nd, 2012 @ 2:37 pm

Don’t be too hard on Bradley. Democrats are chomping at the bit to unleash real, serious religious bigotry and divisiveness should Romney prove the nominee.

You can’t expect it ALL to remain bottled up, a little is going to leak out early…
BradleyHarman
March 22nd, 2012 @ 2:52 pm

It’s all about Romney’s Mormonism. Period.

I was raised in that type of Southern Baptist household. Mormonism=evil cult
that’s drilled into you nonstop.

I’m still a Baptist, but I think the propaganda is unfortunate.

When nearly half the electorate of these Southern states say in the exit polls “sharing the same faith as the candidate is crucial” that tells you all you need to know.

I just hope Santorum supporters understand that this back and forth has nothing to do with Santorum, it’s just Evengelicals who feel they are doing their duty to vote against the cultist.
richard mcenroe
March 22nd, 2012 @ 2:56 pm

So the supporters of the perennial fourth place finisher and the supporters of the guy in first place because he won delegates in states that are a lock for Obama want Rick to quit.

Can’t argue with razor-sharp logic like that.
richard mcenroe
March 22nd, 2012 @ 2:58 pm

If only there was something we could do to prove our Mormon bigotry to the doubters, Bradley. I mean, gosh, if only there was a sign or something…
richard mcenroe
March 22nd, 2012 @ 3:00 pm

The only thing Newt can possibly do in Louisiana is ensure Romney wins some more delegates. I smell a cash transaction; remember when Newt told us he was an ‘outsider?’
Quartermaster
March 22nd, 2012 @ 3:17 pm

If you really are Baptist then you also know that Roman Catholicism is a cult as well. So why just pick on Mittens?

There are real questions as to Mitten’s relationship between himself and the Mormon General Authorities. If they speak, Mitten’s really is required to jump. The Mormon problem is not propaganda, but raises legitimate question about the man.
ThomasD
March 22nd, 2012 @ 3:33 pm

Casting votes for a Papist certainly could confuse the issue…

Best just to vote for the guy who likes his Christianity flavored with a 20 year dose of Marxism.

(Or do I have that backwards?)
ThePaganTemple
March 22nd, 2012 @ 4:03 pm

So let me get this straight. Baptists and other Christian conservatives are voting against a man who is from a faith that is demonstrably and provably conservative in both fiscal and social matters. And in doing so they are voting for a man from a faith which is, other than on a relatively few social issues, leftist to the core and has a statist history to boot.
Pathfinder's wife
March 22nd, 2012 @ 4:07 pm

Oh, but I do blame Bradley and people like him.

Could some of the less than savory aspects of Mormonism become a problem? Only if Romney allows it to be by proving he is more American than anything else and has the wisdom to distance himself from the less than decent bits which are part and parcel of any human undertaking (religion included).

Are there bigger fish that could fry Romney (healthcare mandate, cough, cough, green energy support, gun control laws, wheeze)? Uh, yeah.

And finally, isn’t this a bit defeatist (and dare I say hypocritical as all get out) to already (the guy isn’t even the nominee yet; the general hasn’t even started) be finding a scapegoat for him losing in an election he hasn’t even been picked for yet?
Well, it at least looks a bit bogus imhao.

So, cool it with the fingerpointing and the victimcarding — it reeks of making excuses for failure prior to the deed (kinda like how racism seems to have been thrown around a bit as of the last few years).
McGehee
March 22nd, 2012 @ 4:08 pm

I’ve heard that to a Southern Baptist the only true Christian is a Southern Baptist. Which suggests they shouldn’t have supported Reagan or either of the Bushes, but should have supported Bill Clinton.
Pathfinder's wife
March 22nd, 2012 @ 4:22 pm

Oh yes, the famous “insider information”. Baptists are programmed to hate Mormons because you know!

Sorry, not buying it. I was a Catholic kid who grew up surrounded by evangelicals. Some were indeed, bigoted as all get out (well I remember the periodic arrival of Jack Chick cartoons in our mailbox; talk about making a person feel welcome in the community!). Most however, were not (some had even thought JFK was just the greatest…because yellow dogism, and probably his pretty hair, took precedence over Baptist-ism; hey, no accounting for taste there — my mom and dad couldn’t stand Camelot; go figure).
ThePaganTemple
March 22nd, 2012 @ 4:23 pm

I think a lot of them did support Clinton, at least in the south. But I think that had as much to do with his good ol’ boy persona than it did with his religion.
Pathfinder's wife
March 22nd, 2012 @ 4:26 pm

Which of course proves to Pagan here that my family were hard core leftist commies or something as well.

Because everyone is controlled by the place of worship they belong to! (not that some aren’t, but this like everything else is not some set in stone fact).
Adjoran
March 22nd, 2012 @ 4:29 pm

Oh, yes, the insatiable ambition of a narcissist MUST be the result of a payoff . . . I’m betting it’s those darned Bilderbergers again – they’re everywhere!
ThePaganTemple
March 22nd, 2012 @ 4:29 pm

So did Ricky poo qualify for all the districts this time around, or did he neglect to file enough signatures to qualify for a parish or two?

Stacy, if you’re still in Nawlins go to La Louisianne, assuming its still open. Those Mafia types do Italian right. Who knows, maybe they’ll get out the vote for Rick, being good Catholics and what not. There’s a lot of bodies in those swamps that haven’t exercised their right to vote yet.
Adjoran
March 22nd, 2012 @ 4:30 pm

At least eat some real Cajun food instead of that rancid pink slime McDonald’s has you hooked on – then there might even be some purpose to your being there.
Confutus
March 22nd, 2012 @ 4:58 pm

I’m willing to believe that Gingrich is a diehard who won’t give up the last ghost of hope until it’s mathematically impossible. I’m willing to believe that Gingrich believes his own rhetoric, never mind reality, and I’m willing to believe he’s after something besides a win. I can’t read his mind.

He’s been effective at splitting conservative opposition to Romney and inadvertently giving him victories. But why Romney or anyone who supports him would want to pay someone to trash talk him entirely escapes me.
ThePaganTemple
March 22nd, 2012 @ 5:00 pm

I love Jack Chick cartoons.
ThePaganTemple
March 22nd, 2012 @ 5:01 pm

No I don’t think that. Leftist is as leftist does.
ThePaganTemple
March 22nd, 2012 @ 5:03 pm

Anybody that goes to Nawlins and eats at McDonalds deserves merciless belittlement.
Pathfinder's wife
March 22nd, 2012 @ 5:05 pm

I’ll say it again: that attitude is what is going to sink the GOP this time around.

And it won’t be the presidential race that will be the problem. It will the the down ticket races.

Some of the comments over at Hot Air vis a vis LA voters is right in line with this right here; some of the comments over at AOS have been similar. They are dumb, dumb, dumb…and once it’s out on the internet it’s there forever (and available to all — including Axelrod employees).

Good job.
Pathfinder's wife
March 22nd, 2012 @ 5:07 pm

Somehow that doesn’t suprise me, oh great and staunch conservative defender of the Constitution and Republic.
ThomasD
March 22nd, 2012 @ 5:40 pm

The greatest thing that can be said about LA is that you can buy liquor in the convenience stores.

Same goes for AZ.

God bless them both.
ThePaganTemple
March 22nd, 2012 @ 5:47 pm

Pathfinder’s wife-Jack Chick is a great artist who many times manages to be funny as hell and scarier than shit all at the same time. That’s quite an accomplishment. I appreciate the man’s artistry.
ThePaganTemple
March 22nd, 2012 @ 6:15 pm

Oh now what are you so upset about? What I said about the Church and the Mafia? Stop worrying, Paulie has this shit all figured out-

You Were In Purgatory My Friend
Pathfinder's wife
March 22nd, 2012 @ 7:41 pm

No, that, in an effort to be cute, that people are willing to be so foolish as to spout obnoxious things that can be taken very badly and used as proof that the right really is populated by bigots.

And that your cute remarks are extremely lacking in any form of rhetorical forethought or wit…and that that your words are being used to try and bully people into shutting up (which means that at the moment those words fly off your pretty fingertips, you are a terrible excuse for a libertarian or a constitutionalist).

I suppose it pains me to see Americans be like that — must be getting sentimental in my old age, and thus more emotional.
ThePaganTemple
March 22nd, 2012 @ 8:00 pm

I’m not sure what I said that you interpret as me telling people to shut up, but if that’s what you choose to see in my words I guess there’s nothing I can do about that.
richard mcenroe
March 22nd, 2012 @ 8:03 pm

Dude in Los Angeles you can buy liquor in the pharmacies, right before you go pick up your Antabuse prescription.
richard mcenroe
March 22nd, 2012 @ 8:09 pm

GOOD NEWS, EVERYBODY! Newt says we don’t need him!
T-dahlgren
March 22nd, 2012 @ 9:31 pm

Antabuse? Good Lord, who still uses that? Campral and Revia are the in things now.

Although, once while being treated with metronidazole for a Giardia infection I ignored the warnings (it can cause an Antabuse type reaction) and had a couple beers.

Big mistake.
richard mcenroe
March 22nd, 2012 @ 9:53 pm

Pawlenty… Bachmann… pattern?
Pathfinder's wife
March 22nd, 2012 @ 10:14 pm

By the way…there are persistent rumors that Jack Chick did not illustrate all of his cartoons; some dude from my neck of the woods was employed to do them and didn’t get any credit.
Thomas
March 22nd, 2012 @ 10:40 pm

Romney said in defense of not turning left when he became the nominee: I am a conservative and was a conservative when Governor. I guess his definition of conservative is mandated RomneyCare, tax payer killing of babies, and increased taxes on guns. Newt 2.50 gas.
ThePaganTemple
March 22nd, 2012 @ 11:10 pm

Pathfinder’s wife-

I can believe that. Jack Chick is an old man and he’s probably taken on people over the years to carry on his vision after he’s gone. Some of them might not have worked out. Not to say I believe it, but its possible.

He’s had some good ones over the years. I have an idea some of them might even be collector’s items at some point.
ThePaganTemple
March 22nd, 2012 @ 11:12 pm

I’m ready to cut him some slack. He’s going to be the nominee, so its either learn to live with it or stay home and wait until 2016. I could do that but I’m worried about what judges might be appointed in that interim.
ThePaganTemple
March 22nd, 2012 @ 11:32 pm

Resistance Is Not Just Futile-It’s Meaningless
Fairyqueen4555
March 22nd, 2012 @ 11:55 pm

all religions are cults….being Christian is something you become not something you practice on Sunday’s. This election is for a President not a Pastor!!!!
Adjoran
March 23rd, 2012 @ 12:15 am

If Florida, New Hampshire, Nevada, and Ohio are a lock for Obama, we may as well check the Costa Rican immigration laws.

He should quit because he can’t win, and everyone knows it. This “Romney is the same as Obama” whining is just the last illustration of why he isn’t executive material.
Adjoran
March 23rd, 2012 @ 12:17 am

Sucky campaigner, unqualified candidate . . . nope.

But since this seems such an obsession with you lately – who was the last major party nominee who did NOT help his opponents retire their campaign debts?
Adjoran
March 23rd, 2012 @ 12:23 am

In Michigan and Ohio, exit polls showed more of Newt’s voters going to Romney in a two-man race in a showdown, Gallup nationally showed it 50/50, local polling in Louisiana show it going 72-22 Santorum over Romney.

But Gingrich was correct the only chance of stopping Romney was a three-way race with all picking up delegates in proportional states, leading to a brokered convention. He was wrong to believe such a convention would ever turn to him, of course, and probably to Santorum either.

Now even that possibility is so remote, requiring such a total repudiation of Romney that he would have to be, as Governor Edwards famously projected, “caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy” to lose.
Adjoran
March 23rd, 2012 @ 12:25 am

Aw, after y’all were soooo nice and respectful of Romney and Gingrich and Perry, etc.? Get real. Santorum’s supporters have thrown around some strong language. Too bad, like your candidate, you can dish it out but you can’t take it without whining like spoiled children who lost the game.
Adjoran
March 23rd, 2012 @ 12:28 am

Yeah, that’s telling him! Are you dressed in a nun’s habit right now? I’ve been a bad boy, too!