While some state polling by PPP indicates that Newt Gingrich dropping out of the race would be a clear benefit for Rick Santorum, Gallup national polling found it would have no significant impact. According to Gallup, 40% of Gingrich supporters’ second choice is Mitt Romney while 39% choose Santorum as their second choice. As a result, if Gingrich dropped out Romney’s lead over Santorum would remain basically unchanged.

In another sign of Mitt Romney’s problems in the deep South, a new Wilson Perkins Allen Opinion Research poll shows Rick Santorum with an eight point lead in the Texas primary, scheduled for May 29th.

After losing both Alabama and Mississippi last night it seems Newt Gingrich really has no legitimate path forward. His Southern strategy was proven to be a total failure, and he has only managed to win two states. The only thing Gingrich’s continued presence in the race is doing is to be a spoiler for Rick Santorum.

Last night was a big night for Rick Santorum, as he secured primary victories in two southern states, Alabama and Mississippi. His double win proved not only that he is still a serious candidate but that Newt Gingrich’s Southern strategy is simply not going to work, leaving Santorun the more viable non-Romney choice.

Tonight features three contests in the Republican presidential primary. There are primaries in Alabama and Mississippi, and there is a caucus in Hawaii. You can find my primer for tonight here.

Polls close in Alabama and Mississippi at 8 pm Eastern

If there has been one constant throughout this Republican primary, it is that there’s a huge home state advantage for each candidate. It’s now working for Rick Santorum, who has a huge double digit lead in Pennsylvania according to the newest Public Policy Polling survey of the state.

Tonight’s GOP contests — primaries in Alabama and Mississippi and a caucus in Hawaii — have the potential to really shake up the race. The two Southern primaries in particular could potentially make or break the Santorum or Gingrich campaigns. Polls suggest the top three candidates are very close in Mississippi and Alabama, so anyone could win.

It looks like it could be a late night tomorrow with Republican primaries taking place in Mississippi, Alabama, and Hawaii. The latest polling from PPP shows both Mississippi and Alabama extremely close. In Mississippi Newt Gingrich leads Mitt Romney by only two points; in Alabama it is nearly a three way tie with Gingrich, Romney and Santorum separated by just two points.

When Lou Reed wrote “Things go from bad to weird” 30 years ago, he might well have been thinking of this week in politics. Amazingly, it’s only been in the space of a few days that news junkies’ attention has been drawn from the ongoing clusterf**k of the Republican presidential campaign to advertisers pouring fuel on Rush Limbaugh’s self-immolation, and then to whatever you call this zombie-Breitbart manufactured controversy.

Early this morning the final two Super Tuesday states, Alaska and Ohio, were called for Mitt Romney. Those victories brought Romney’s total for Super Tuesday to six of ten, including his wins in Idaho, Massachusetts, Vermont and Virginia. He also managed to win so many more delegates that it’s becoming highly unlikely anyone can keep him from getting the nomination.