"Santorum can't lose this and it doesn't look like he will. He will argue that the victory proves Romney can't win in the South, the bedrock of the Republican Party. But will anyone be listening," CNN Chief Political Correspondent Candy Crowley said. "Inside the party, there is a full-blown push to close this thing down," evidenced by the support for Romney from Jeb Bush and Jim DeMint.  Jeb Bush, the brother of former President George W. Bush and the popular and influential former Florida governor, endorsed Romney after his victory in Illinois, and urged that it was time to close ranks around Romney. DeMint, the conservative senator from South Carolina and kingmaker among tea party supporters, all but officially backed Romney on Thursday.  A week-and-a-half ago, Santorum narrowly edged out Gingrich and Romney to capture primaries in Alabama and Mississippi. But he lost in a landslide to Romney last weekend in Puerto Rico, and then fell again in Illinois.  "Santorum can't just win, he has to win big. He's the one who needs to 'shake up' this race. Another ho-hum win in the South doesn't cut it. He's on a political bridge to nowhere and is running out of time to change destinations," said Bruce Haynes, a GOP strategist and managing partner of Purple Strategies, a bipartisan public affairs consulting firm.  According to a CNN estimate, Romney has 563 delegates, more than twice the 251 Santorum has in hand, and nearly halfway to the 1,144 delegates needed to clinch the nomination.  Twenty delegates are up for grabs Saturday in Louisiana's primary, which is closed, meaning only registered Republicans can vote in the contest.
Rick Santorum has a very good chance of scoring a major victory in Saturday's Republican presidential primary in Louisiana, but the big question is whether it will still matter.Polls released the...