US Politics Developing: "Desperate End"? Santorum Wins Two Southern Primaries (Hanna/Helton)

Rick Santorum's speech after Tuesday night victories in the Alabama and Mississippi primaries

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Jason Hanna and John Helton write for CNN:

Rick Santorum marches forward to the next GOP primary battle with wins in Alabama and Mississippi, throwing cold water on rival Mitt Romney's prediction that his campaign was reaching a "desperate end."

Romney, rejected again by Southern conservatives in the Tuesday primaries, was battling for second place with Newt Gingrich.

The latter had staked his campaign on a Southern strategy after winning South Carolina and Georgia.

In Alabama, Santorum won 35% of the vote. Gingrich and Romney both had 29% --- although Gingrich was about 2,000 votes ahead with 99% of the vote counted -- and Ron Paul had 5%.

With 99% of the vote counted in Mississippi, Santorum had 33%. Gingrich was at 31%, Romney at 30% and Paul at 4%. Romney claimed victory in the caucuses of American Samoa, local officials said, while caucus results in Hawaii had yet to come in.

"We did it again," Santorum told supporters Tuesday night in Lafayette, Louisiana, which will hold a GOP primary on March 24.

Santorum, whose Alabama and Mississippi victories give him 10 wins to Romney's 16, poked at the frontrunner as he reiterated his stance that he is the viable conservative alternative to the former Massachusetts governor.

"People (said), 'You're being outspent (by Romney),' and everybody's talking about all the (delegate) math, and that his race is inevitable. Well, for someone who thinks this race is inevitable, (Romney) has spent a whole lot of money against me for being inevitable," Santorum told supporters.

Earlier in the day, Romney, who still holds a large overall delegate lead, said Santorum's campaign was trying to resuscitate a losing effort.

"Sen. Santorum is at the desperate end of his campaign and trying in some way to boost his prospects," Romney said on CNN's "The Situation Room."

As news was breaking of Santorum's win in Alabama, Santorum communications director Hogan Gridley replied to Romney's statement, saying, "It's just the beginning."

Santorum, a former senator from Pennsylvania, was coming off a big win in Kansas on Saturday and has given himself a bigger boost in the battle to be the conservative alternative to Romney by beating Gingrich in Alabama and Mississippi, in Gingrich's home turf in the South. The wins are somewhat of a surprise, because polls released Monday showed Santorum running 8 to 10 points behind Romney and Gingrich in the two states.

Still, because Alabama's 47 delegates and Mississippi's 37 delegates will be awarded proportionally, Romney appeared to maintain his delegate lead and may add to it after more moderate Hawaii and American Samoa are counted. A CNN delegate estimate late Tuesday night showed Romney with a 489-234 lead over Santorum, giving him a 255-delegate margin. Seventeen delegates will be allotted in Hawaii.

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