The polls in the GOP primary in Louisiana are about to close, with Rick Santorum hoping his appeal with conservative voters in the Deep South will give him a much need win and help close on frontrunner Mitt Romney.
Preliminary results of exit polls of Republican voters suggest the electorate there is about as conservative as in other Southern states. And like voters nationwide, they say the economy remains the big issue.
The polls close at 8 p.m. local time with Santorum having a double-digit lead through most of the week.
Louisiana has 20 delegates up for grabs, but a candidate must win at least 25 percent of the vote to take at least some of them.
Romney enters the Louisiana primary after a solid, 12-percentage point victory Tuesday in Illinois over Santorum, his closest rival. But Louisiana will be one of Romney's last chances to show he can win in the Deep South before the campaigns head north for roughly the next six weeks.
Whatever the outcome, the race for the eventual Republican presidential nominee, -- which also includes former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul -- is expected to continue into the summer and to the nominating convention in Tampa, Fla., in August.
Romney now has 560 delegates, compared to Santorum's 246, Gingrich's 141 and Paul's 66 in the race to reach 1,144 delegates and win the nomination outright.
Louisiana has a closed primary, meaning only registered Republicans can vote. Roughly eight in 10 in the exit poll said they consider themselves Republicans on most political matters, and three-quarters called themselves conservatives
Seven in 10 said they support the Tea Party movement, roughly the same numbers recorded 11 days ago in the Mississippi primary won by Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator.
Nearly a quarter of the Louisiana voters said choosing a candidate who is a true conservative was important, according to the Edison Research survey conducted for the Associated Press and the television networks.
Santorum and Gingrich attended the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference on Saturday where Santorum told the crowd he didn't always understand the conservatives' frustration with Washington, but said he comprehends it now.
He also said his 2006 reelection loss helped him grasp that frustration.
Santorum touted to his consistent, social conservative stance to separate himself from his GOP rivals, saying he offers an alternative to President Barack Obama.
He made the remarks before going to Milwaukee for the AFP Defending the Dream Conference. The state's primary in April 3.
Santorum went bowling there and told the crowd at the end of his speech he wouldn't need the bumpers like President Obama. He bowled three strikes in a row.
Earlier this week, the candidates weighed in on some of the biggest issues in the country -- from the upcoming Supreme Court health care hearings to U.S. energy policy to the highly charged shooting death of a Florida teen.
Romney told Louisiana voters that Obama's health care law was an "unfolding disaster" and touted his plan to give Medicaid money to states and changes the tax code so that it encourages them to buy insurance.
The former Massachusetts governor made his remarks on the second anniversary of the president's plan.
"You'll note the White House is not celebrating ObamaCare today," Romney told a small crowd in Metairie, La., several miles west of New Orleans.
Still, conservatives are skeptical of Romney's stance on health care considering he signed a similar law as governor. His remarks come four days before the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on the constitutionality of the law, with those hoping to get a seat in the courtroom already standing in line outside the courthouse.
He also has reached the 40-percent mark among voters, according to a Gallup poll released Friday. Romney led Santorum 40 percent to 26 percent among Republican voters nationwide in interviews conducted in the days surrounding the Illinois primary. This marks the first time a candidate has reached 40 percent during the primaries.
Gingrich finished third with 14 percent and Ron Paul received 8 percent, according to Gallup, which polled 1,157 Republicans and Republican-leaning independents.
Among the key states remaining in the primary process through late June are New York, Texas and California, in addition to Wisconsin.
Santorum spent time Friday at a gun range in northern Louisiana and took back the comments he made a day earlier about Romney and Obama being so close on issues that Republicans might as well re-elect the president to a second term.
Santorum, emphatically said that he would support and vote for the Republican nominee, during a phone interview with Fox News.
"I've said it in every speech, if we don't give America a contrast we're not going to be successful. (But) the idea that I would vote for Obama over a Republican is outrageous," Santorum said. "This is why this is a joke and a creation of the Romney class."
Romney, who picked up a key endorsement this week from former GOP Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, on Friday also joined in the criticism of Obama's energy policy and for taking credit earlier this week for approving the southern leg of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, after his administration has not issued permits for the entire, 1,700-mile project from Canada to the Texas.
He said at a natural gas well in Shreveport, La., that the president's halt on oil drilling in the Gulf was a "huge mistake."
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