Rick Santorum Wins South but Faces Romney's Secret Weapon: Math

Rick Santorum won Mississippi and Alabama last night, while Mitt Romney finished third — third! — behind Newt Gingrich. But there was some good news for Mitt. For one thing, he can stop pretending to love grits.

For another, he won both American Samoa and unAmerican Samoa, which is what I believe we've been calling Hawaii since it delivered an overwhelming majority for Barack Obama. Though some delegates remain unallocated, the overall picture is clear:

	Mississippi	Alabama	Hawaii	American Samoa
Mitt Romney	30.3% (12 del.)	29% (11 del.)	45.4% (9 del.)	9 delegates
Rick Santorum	32.9% (13)	34.5% (18)	25.3% (4)	(0)
Newt Gingrich	31.3% (12)	29.3% (12)	18.3% (0)	(0)
Ron Paul	4.4% (0)	5% (0)	11% (1)	(0)

Though Santorum and Gingrich took thousands of more popular votes than Romney last night, the "front runner," whose increasingly hilarious path to the convention is now paved with Pacific atolls, actually won the most delegates.

So while Santorum relies on "enthusiasm" and "narrative," Romney is relying on math. No wonder he lost Mississippi.

Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Tags: Alabama, American Samoa, Hawaii, Mississippi, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Primaries, Republicans, Rick Santorum, Ron Paul