Mississippi is heating up as the race moves to the south and the candidates are paying attention. And if you’re going to win in the Deep South, you have to hit the issues that are most important to the voters there. All along the Big Muddy that means… grits.

First up, (as previously noted) was Mitt Romney, sounding somewhat unfamiliar with the concept of “grit” not involving a sandpaper rating. But he was game to give it a go.

“I am learning to say y’all and I like grits, and things,” he joked. “Strange things are happening to me.”

Never one to let anyone else steal the spotlight, Newt Gingrich waded into the hominy hullabaloo with his own southern cooking bona fides.

Newt Gingrich made a pitch to Alabama Republicans Saturday morning with a simple message: He’s one presidential candidate who’s familiar with their cuisine.

“Gov. Romney indicated yesterday morning that it was the first time he tasted grits,” Mr. Gingrich told a crowd at a Mobile restaurant where the Republican Party in Mobile and Baldwin counties was holding a breakfast meeting. “I just wanted to reassure all of you that I have had some acquaintance in a variety of forms whether it’s with shrimp, with cheese, with gravy, whatever.”

But there’s one name clearly missing from this debate. Where is Rick Santorum on the grits question? Not a peep out of him so far that I can find.

WHAT IS RICK SANTORUM HIDING? What did he know about grits and when did he know it? Americans deserve to know.