NBC calls Alabama for Santorum

When all the votes are counted in Alabama, Rick Santorum will be the winner in Alabama\'s Republican presidential primary Tuesday, NBC News projected. Results posted on the Alabama secretary of state\'s Web site -- while not specifying how many precincts had reported -- gave Santorum 31,069 votes (34.67 percent) to 26,060 (29.08 percent) for Newt Gingrich and 25,122 (28.03 percent) for Mitt Romney. Ron Paul garnered 5,286 (5.9 percent) and several other candidates who have dropped out of the race got a smattering of votes. Pre-election polls had shown the race for Alabama\'s 50 delegates to the GOP National Convention would be neck-and-neck-and-neck among Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, Santorum, the former senator from Pennsylvania, and Gingrich, the former House speaker from Georgia. The trio also were in a dogfight in neighboring Mississippi, where 40 delegates are at stake.