Team Mitt campaigns hard in the South. Can he win there?

Mitt Romney (R-Massachusetts) has spent his last week in the South in South Carolina in the debate and in Georgia at the Georgia GOP state convention. His poll numbers are rising in both Iowa and New Hampshire, but his current presence in the south does not seem to be making any huge affects for his campaign, at least not positive ones.
It raises a question that will be very important to Mitt.

Can he win in the south?

His numbers are not great here in "red country" and he has had a hard time thus far proving he is truly conservative on both social and economic issues. If he can not define his positions on abortion and taxes and at the same time assure conservative voters that he will not "flip-flop" on those issues again, the south will be a vary hard place for Mitt to find votes.

Romney toke a big stance at the Georgia GOP state convention in Duluth, GA. During his speech he said that the new illegal immigration legislation is amnesty and should be thrown out. The legislation is co-sponsored by Georgia's senor senator Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia), a Senator who is highly respected among Georgia republican voters. Romney's comments were some what down played though, as Newt Gingrich (R-Georgia) had it out even worse for the bill and got most of the media coverage of the night. Newt is also considering throwing his name into the race, however he will not make an official announcement until late September.

In the South Carolina debate Romney had a good start, but trickled further and further down as the night went on as he had to face the facts about his convenient change of heart on issues such as abortion when John McCain (R-Arizona) toke a stand saying he didn't change his positions because of the office he was running for or where he was running (a direct blow to Romney). Romney also had a hard time defining his stance on the 2nd Amendment and Gun Control. He said that he fully supported the ban on assault weapons, but yet supported American's Right to Bear Arms.
If Romney does not straighten himself out on issues near and dear to southern voters, he may not be "whistlin' dixie" when the southern primaries role around.