By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – As the Republican candidates for President of the United States continue to battle for delegates in the primary election, many in the River Parishes believe that the current man in charge is the right one when it comes down to the actual election in November.

With the Louisiana Primary last Saturday, L’Observateur asked visitors to its website who they would like to see as our next President. More than half of the voters opted for Barack Obama over any of the Republican candidates still in contention.

On the other side, the leading vote getter of the four Republican candidates was Louisiana Primary winner Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. Santorum garnered nearly 20 percent of the total vote, or about 40 percent of the votes for Republican candidates. The next closest vote getter was Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, who received about 14 percent of the total vote, or 29 percent of the Republican vote.

A complete breakdown is as follows:

• 51 percent of respondents said “Barack Obama.”

• 19 percent of respondents said “Rick Santorum.”

• 14 percent of respondents said “Mitt Romney.”

• 5 percent of respondents said “Newt Gingrich.”

• 10 percent of respondents said “Ron Paul.”