During the course of the Republican presidential race, a number of candidates have dropped from the competition, and while Mitt Romney will be the Republican nominee, the University was a focal point on the map for other candidates.
Despite Romney’s domination in the delegate count from an early point in the race, Louisiana was a hot spot for candidates this election year.
During his 2012 campaign for president, Newt Gingrich visited the University but only won two primaries – Georgia and South Carolina.
On March 22, Gingrich addressed a group of about 300 students and supporters in Dodson Auditorium, and during his speech, he emphasized energy policy and gas prices.
“Obama can’t buy enough ads to convince me that gas is cheap,” Gingrich said at the campus event. “We do not want any American president to bow to a Saudi king.” Gingrich was not the only one to venture into the sea of purple and gold.
On March 18, Rick Santorum made a campaign stop at the Tigers’ game against Mississippi State to meet his supporters and baseball fans, just less than a week before Louisiana’s presidential primary, scheduled for March 24.
LSU baseball coach Paul Mainieri said he was not aware Santorum attended the game, but he welcomed the candidate’s visit.
“I’m not going to divulge [my political views] to people, but I think it’s neat a presidential candidate thought enough of what we do here to make an appearance,” Mainieri said.
“Hopefully our fans welcomed him and were very hospitable to him.”
During the state’s primary in March, Rick Santorum won Louisiana’s Republican presidential primary with 49.07 percent of the vote, while Mitt Romney followed in second with 26.62 percent, according to results from the Louisiana Secretary of State.
“The results show Rick Santorum’s conservative message strongly resonated with Louisiana Republican voters,” said Roger Villere Jr., chairman of the Republican Party of Louisiana, in a news release. “Louisiana Republicans clearly want a conservative alternative to Barack Obama.”
Despite Santorum’s big win in Louisiana, his campaign trail came to a halt April 6 when his 3-year-old daughter, who has a serious genetic disorder, was hospitalized for pneumonia. On April 10, Santorum announced he would suspend his presidential campaign.
“We are not done fighting,” Santorum said April 10 in Pennsylvania.
Many believe Romney will ultimately gain the nomination following Santorum’s campaign suspension.
“I didn’t feel [Santorum] was going to win anyway,” said Dominic Clust, mass communication junior. “Romney had it in the bag to begin with, but this cleared the way for his nomination.”
 
____ Contact Kate Mabry at [email protected]