The Hill News

Rick Santorum looks poised for a commanding win in Saturday's Louisiana primary, according to new poll numbers released on the eve of the Pelican State vote.

Santorum holds a 42 percent to 28 percent lead over Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney, according to Public Policy Polling. Newt Gingrich, meanwhile, was the choice of 18 percent of those surveyed while Ron Paul earned 8 percent. Former Louisiana governor Buddy Roemer, who has declared his intention to run as an independent, is pulling 2 percent in his home state.

Romney has had a tough time winning voters in the South, losing Alabama and Mississippi to Rick Santorum last week and earlier contests in South Carolina and Georgia to Newt Gingrich. Victories in Virginia and Florida come with asterisks - only Romney and Ron Paul qualified for the ballot in Old Dominion, while Romney's support in Florida was concentrated in Southern Florida, which does not culturally identify with the Deep South.

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