Santorum supporters participate in a sign wave event. PHOTO: Rick Santorum on Facebook.

Politico reports that Newt Gingrich and his campaign appear to be showing ‘signs of stress.” Meanwhile, in Mississippi, conservatives are rallying behind Rick Santorum.

From Politico:

On Thursday morning in Jackson, Miss., the capital and state’s largest city, Gingrich addressed a paltry crowd of about 100 people at a morning rally. Rick Santorum drew a much larger crowd in the city the night before and Mitt Romney had a larger audience the next morning, according to attendees of all three events.

Gingrich Jackson remarks were uninspiring and meandered away from the usual stump speech. The former House speaker talked about Henry Kissinger’s accent and an Arnold Schwarzenegger video. The crowd barely applauded and only at the end, when Gingrich picked up steam, talking about the burning of Qurans in Afghanistan

Remember back in Iowa when everyone knew that the three conservatives were Bachmann, Perry and Santorum and that the two establishment candidates were Newt and Mitt? Those days are long gone and one conservative still stands: Rick Santorum. For some reason, perhaps mostly because of Sarah Palin’s nod to Newt,  just enough conservatives have gravitated to Newt to pull Santorum’s numbers down, thus helping Mitt Romney by dividing the conservative vote. Clearly, the energy is behind Santorum now, though, as word is spreading, so I’m hopeful that he can pull out a win in Mississippi and Alabama.