Santorum is Preference in Jefferson, St. Louis County

With most of the votes counted Tuesday night, Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum polled the highest in St. Louis and Jefferson counties in Missouri's advisory-only presidential Preference Primary Election. There were no nominating delegates at stake. Instead, national delegates will be selected at a state caucus in March.

In Jefferson County, where 100 percent of the votes were counted by 10 p.m., Santorum scored a comfortable victory over former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in the Republican portion of the primary. Santorum received 4,707 votes to Romney's 1,708 tallies for a comfortable 56.7% to 20.5% win in Jefferson County, where six of the seven members of the county council are Republican Party members.

Vote totals for the other candidates include:

Gary Johnson 17 votes (.2%)
Herman Cain 49 votes (.59%)
Michael J. Meehan 21 votes (.25%)
Rick Perry 90 votes (1.08%)
Keith Drummond 6 votes (.07%)
Jon Huntsman 30 (.36%)
Michele Bachmann 73 (.88%)
Ron Paul 1,221 (14.72%)
Uncommitted 374 votes (4.51%)

Newt Gingrich was not on the ballot in Missouri. Bachman, Huntsman and Cain have withdrawn from the race for the Republican nomination for President.

It was much the same story in St. Louis County where Santorum cruised to an easy victory over Republican front runner Romney. Santorum scored 52.8% of the vote to Romney's 30.1% At 10 p.m. 99 prcent of the ballots had been counted in St. Louis County. The vote totals were Santorum 16,207 and Romney 9,242.

Other St. Louis County vote totals included:

Gary Johnson 50 votes (.16%)
Herman Cain 214 votes (.7%)
Michael J. Meehan 82 votes (.27%)
Rick Perry 236 votes (.77%)
Jon Huntsman 196 votes (.64%)
Michele Bachmann 251 votes (.82%)
Ron Paul 3,277 votes (10.68%)
Uncommitted 916 votes (2.99%)