WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Rick Santorum is winning the hearts of Republican conservatives but the cold realities of time and math are working against his presidential election effort.
Santorum effectively became the only conservative challenger to Mitt Romney left standing when he narrowly won the Alabama and Mississippi primaries on Tuesday, as good as ending Newt Gingrich’s presidential ambitions.
That set up a one-on-one battle between Santorum and Romney, whose clear lead in the fight to win the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination gives him an easier path in the next few months.
“It’s a little too late for Santorum,” said Republican strategist Adam Temple.
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, won up to 30 percent of the vote in the two Deep South states but still failed to dispel doubts that he can win over conservatives.
Numerically, that may not matter much.
Although exact numbers are hard to come by, Romney actually won more delegates than Santorum on Tuesday, according to media estimates.
The race was so tight in the South that the delegates were split almost evenly between the three hopefuls but Romney also won caucuses in Hawaii and American Samoa.
His lead over Santorum increased by 9 delegates to 255, according to CNN. Romney had 489 delegates, compared to 234 for Santorum, CNN said.
