Rick Santorum | featured news

A new poll Monday showed Mitt Romney is surprisingly strong in two Republican presidential primary contests in the South this week that are crucial to his conservative rivals Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich.

Rick Santorum won the Kansas caucuses in a rout on Saturday and Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney countered in Wyoming, a weekend prelude to suddenly pivotal Southern primary showdowns in the week ahead.

Former Senator Rick Santorum won the Republican presidential caucuses in Kansas on Saturday, CNN projected, giving him a boost going into crucial primary votes in the South next week.

Setting the stage for primary elections Tuesday in Alabama and Mississippi, Republicans in Kansas gathered Saturday for their presidential caucuses. Forty delegates are at stake.

By projecting the delegate totals in the remaining states, what would Rick Santorum need to do to make up his disadvantage?

Edward Morrissey says none of the candidates hit their targets for moving ahead on Super Tuesday, but hung on just enough to keep the crown out of Romney's reach

Mitt Romney apparently pulled off a narrow victory over Rick Santorum in Ohio on Super Tuesday. But Mr. Santorum scored victories elsewhere, competing with Mr. Romney’s achievement of collecting the most delegates and all but ensuring another round of intense infighting on the road to the Republican presidential nomination. Far from bringing new clarity to the race as some in the party had hoped, Tuesday’s results gave every candidate cause to keep driving forward —including Newt Gingrich, who won a definitive victory in Georgia. They also dashed Mr. Romney’s hope of using the night to assert himself as the inevitable nominee.

NBC News projects that Rick Santorum has won in Tennessee; Mitt Romney seen capturing Massachusetts, Vermont and Virginia while Newt Gingrich takes Georgia; Ohio is too close to call and Oklahoma is too early to call.

With hours remaining until the polls open in this crucial state, Rick Santorum said Monday no one expected him to last this long into the Republican presidential contest, but that a combination of hard work and a consistent conservative message has allowed him to compete despite being massively outspent by rival Mitt Romney.

As Super Tuesday looms, the contest in the Buckeye State appears extremely competitive.