Santorum projected winner in Mississippi

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JACKSON, Miss., March 13 (UPI) -- Rick Santorum was projected the winner in Mississippi's Republican presidential primary Tuesday, giving him a double-barreled victory in the South.

CNN called Mississippi for Santorum, who earlier also was projected to have won neighboring Alabama over his GOP rivals -- Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul.

With 1,722 of 1,889 precincts (91.2 percent) reporting, the Mississippi secretary of state's office said Santorum had 85,089 votes (33.0 percent) to 80,742 (31.3 percent) for Gingrich and 77,951 (30.2 percent) for Romney. Paul was fourth with 11,342 votes (4.4 percent), with a few votes going to other candidates who pulled out of the race long ago.

Forty 40 delegates to the GOP National Convention were at stake in Mississippi.