Louisiana GOP Votes Today

Today, Louisiana will become the 29th state to vote their preferences in the Republican presidential nomination race. Wall Street Willie (aka Willard Mitt Romney) won the last primary (last Tuesday in Illinois), but it is unlikely he can repeat that in Louisiana -- a state with a lot of teabaggers and evangelicals (groups Romney has had trouble with).

And the terrible gaffe by Romney's own campaign advisor last week -- where he compared Romney to an Etch-A-Sketch (who could rewrite his political views at any time) certainly won't help. The teabaggers and evangelicals already mistrust Romney's conservative credentials. They consider him a flip-flopper, who will abandon them once he gets the nomination. The Etch-A-Sketch comparison just verifies their suspicions.

The Louisiana primary is the last primary in March. The next primaries are in Maryland, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia on April 3rd. That's 10 days for the Etch-A-Sketch comparison to burn itself into the minds of voters in those states -- enough time for those who were ready to grudgingly accept Romney to change their minds.

Meanwhile, two new polls were released yesterday on the race in Louisiana. Both of them show Mr. Frothy (aka Rick Santorum) has a substantial lead there. Here are the numbers:

PUBLIC POLICY POLLING (Louisiana)
Rick Santorum...............42%
Mitt Romney...............28%
Newt Gingrich...............18%
Ron Paul...............8%
Buddy Roemer...............2%

AMERICAN RESEARCH GROUP POLL (Louisiana)
Rick Santorum...............43%
Mitt Romney...............27%
Newt Gingrich...............20%
Ron Paul...............6%
Other/Undecided...............4%