Newt Gingrich

Newt Gingrich is using Rick Santorum's announcement that the former Pennsylvania senator is suspending his presidential campaign to make a last ditch effort at becoming the Republican nominee--by drawing a contrast with front runner Mitt Romney.

Rick Santorum is leading in his home state of Pennsylvania, according to a new Quinnipiac poll:

Bret Stephens: "Peter Beinart’s False Prophecy: The Crisis of Zionism, his book arguing that the Israeli occupation alienates young American Jews, is sloppy with facts and emotionally contrived."

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is committed to staying in the race, the former speaker of the House told CBS this morning:

With the Alabama and Mississippi primaries now complete, and with the Hawaii caucuses counted, more than half of the states (accounting for 41 percent of the delegates) are now in the books in the Republican presidential race. Through these first 26 states, Mitt Romney has won 52.7 percent (496 of 942) of the available delegates, a shade over the 50 percent rate he must eclipse in order to secure a majority of the delegates (1,144 of 2,286) before the GOP convention.

Rick Santorum won two surprise victories last night in the Alabama and Mississippi primaries, and he did so by poaching voters from Newt Gingrich’s coalition. To appreciate this, let’s take a look at some data.

First, the topline numbers in the four Deep Southern states that have voted so far.

Today is a relatively big day in the GOP nomination battle -- with caucuses in American Samoa and Hawaii and primaries in Alabama and Mississippi. The main story is in the South, though. And although this Southern Super Tuesday has relatively few delegates at stake – just 84 are up for grabs between the Alabama and Mississippi primaries – it will likely attract a good deal of attention. It will also offer something we have not yet seen: a roughly equal three-way battle between Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum.

Two new post-Super Tuesday polls show Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum running neck-and-neck for the lead in the Republican presidential race.

PPP reports on its latest poll of Republican voters in Mississippi:

In Mississippi Newt Gingrich is holding on to a slight lead with 33% to 31% for Mitt Romney, 27% for Rick Santorum, and 7% for Ron Paul...

On Super Tuesday, Mitt Romney won six of the ten contests, a majority of delegates allocated, and more security in his march to victory at the Republican convention in Tampa.

Rasmussen reports on its latest Alabama presidential primary poll of likely Republican voters:

Are conservatives ready to coalesce around a presidential candidate? A new poll commissioned by the Committee for Work Families PAC finds that a vast majority of grassroots conservatives want the Republican party to unite around one particular candidate: Rick Santorum.