By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum picked up 10 convention delegates by winning Louisiana's Republican presidential primary Saturday.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won five delegates and five will be designated as uncommitted.
Santorum's haul was limited by Louisiana's rules for awarding delegates. The state has a total of 46 delegates to the party's national convention, but only 20 were at stake in the primary, and they were awarded in proportion to the statewide vote. Candidates had to get more than 25 percent of the vote to qualify.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul were well below the 25 percent threshold, meaning they will get no delegates.
The five uncommitted delegates, as well as 23 others, will be up for grabs when they are selected at the state GOP convention in June. The final three delegates are Louisiana's members of the Republican National Committee.
Romney leads the overall race for delegates with 568, followed by Santorum with 273, Gingrich with 135 and Paul with 50. It takes 1,144 delegates to win the Republican nomination to take on President Barack Obama.
So far, Romney has won 54 percent of the delegates at stake in primaries and caucuses, putting him on track to clinch the nomination in June but not leaving much room for error.
Santorum has won just 27 percent of the primary and caucus delegates. He would need 74 percent of the remaining delegates to clinch the nomination before the national convention in August. Gingrich would need 85 percent.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Reader Comments Read all comments (2)
John of NY 6:40AM March 25, 2012
Arnold Jackson of LA 5:08AM March 25, 2012