A mere seven days after the Super Tuesday results solidified the standing of Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum as the two front-runners of the GOP presidential primary, the former Pennsylvania senator has proved once again that he is here to stay.

“We did it again,” Santorum said to a crowd gathered in Lafayette, Louisiana – a state that is scheduled to hold its primary in two weeks.  “The time is now for conservatives to pull together.”

As of Tuesday night, Santorum claimed 32.9 percent of the vote in Mississippi and 34.6 percent in Alabama.  The first runner-up in both states was Newt Gingrich, amassing 31.3 percent and 29.3 percent in Mississippi and Alabama respectively.  Romney, considered by many to be the GOP front-runner and the most likely to win the nomination, placed third in both cases with 30.3 percent of the vote in Mississippi and 28.9 percent in Alabama.

The Alabama and Mississippi primaries, held together with the Hawaii caucuses on Tuesday pushed the GOP presidential nomination contest past the half-way mark, amounting to a total of 27 states.  Romney entered Tuesday’s primaries with 14 states under his belt, twice the amount of the seven states that Santorum had managed to claim at that point. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has only managed to secure victories in South Carolina and Georgia.

Romney, who admitted himself that Alabama and Mississippi were an “away game,” failed to come out on top in the South despite the vast amount of money his campaign had devoted to advertisements and campaign strategies.

Romney continued his strong performance on the islands. He won Hawaii 45.4 percent to Santorum’s 25.3 percent. Gingrich took 18.3 percent, Paul 11 percent. Romney also won the caucus in American Samoa.

Santorum voiced his thanks in a message to supporters, stating “We did it again…we did it without millions of dollars in TV ads or a friendly media.”  His campaign aims to raise $1 million within the 24 hour period following the Mississippi and Alabama primaries.

“All doubt has been removed. Despite what Mitt Romney’s Boston consultants want you to believe, REAL VOTERS want a principled conservative in the White House.  And they’re increasingly coming to our side,” the message also boasted.

Next up for Santorum will be a trips to Puerto Rico, Missouri and Illinois.