Supporters listen to Rick Santorum in Huntsville, Alabama (Billy Weeks/Reuters)
Given the
early exit polls, you'd be justified in thinking voters in Alabama and Mississippi were headed to a revival rather than election.
Around 8 in 10 Mississippians participating in Tuesday's contest were white evangelical or born-again Christians, the largest share measured in any state so far. Those same voters accounted for nearly three-quarters of those surveyed in Alabama, a proportion reached previously only in Tennessee and Oklahoma.
If demographic trends hold from previous southern primaries, and assuming the exit polls are accurate (two big IFs), that's good news for Rick Santorum. Remember, he won Tennessee and Oklahoma handily.