Rick Santorum was poised to deal an embarrassing setback to Mitt Romney in as many as three states Tuesday night, as the former Pennsylvania senator took a strong lead in several non-binding presidential contests that could once again reorder the GOP primary race.
Santorum handily beat Romney in the Missouri primary, leading him by nearly 30 percentage points with 72 percent of precincts reporting. In Minnesota, the Associated Press called the race for Santorum as he held a 44 percent to 27 percent lead over runner-up Ron Paul, with Romney trailing in third at 17 percent as just over a quarter of precincts reported.
A third contest in Colorado was too incomplete to call, but Santorum had 50 percent of the vote to Newt Gingrich’s 21 percent, Romney’s 19 percent and Paul’s 10 percent with 7 percent of the vote reporting. The results are expected to tighten substantially as more returns come in from a state where Romney was expected to be strong.
All three primaries and caucuses are largely symbolic. No delegates will be awarded Tuesday night. In Missouri’s case, there is no direct connection between the primary results and the fate of the state’s delegates, while Minnesota and Colorado Republicans will apportion their delegates in subsequent party meetings.
But even the incomplete returns add up to the best moment in Santorum’s campaign since the Iowa caucuses at the beginning of January.
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you never know-Rick Santorum might just win……..
@getzel1- That would be great!!!
With Mitt Romney’s recent victory in Nevada, and Newt Gingrich’s disappointing second place finish, it is time to consider other alternatives.
And Tuesda, with little fanfare or intention, Rick Santorum is poised to potentially make the kind of breakthrough that could changed the 2012 presidential race.
To be sure, at this point it is more theoretical than likely.
Santorum trails in the national Gallup tracking poll. The poll shows 35% for Romney, 24% for Gingrich, and 16% for Santorum, with Ron Paul bringing up the rear at 12%.
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Still, with caucuses today in Colorado and Minnesota, the former Pennsylvania Senator is poised to make a break through.
Santorum leads 29-27 over Romney in Minnesota, with Gingrich and Paul well behind. Already, Governor Romney has canceled his final rallies in Minnesota so he can stay in the West to try and hold onto his lead in Colorado.
Santorum had great success over the weekend, getting on the front page of Colorado newspapers, and could well further close the 14 point gap that PPP poll found on Friday.
That being said, a victory Tuesday in both states for Santorum could change the dynamic in the Republican contest fundamentally.
Should Santorum win in both Colorado and Minnesota, the inevitable search for an alternative to Romney would immediately turn towards the official winner of the Iowa caucuses: former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, who has trailed Gingrich and Romney in every race since then.
The Gingrich campaign is seeking to get to Super Tuesday on March 8, where Southern primaries predominate.
But if Santorum is able to win both Colorado and Minnesota and be competitive in Maine on Saturday, the dynamic of the race could change and the alterative of the anti-Romney constituency could swing back to where it was over a month ago following the Iowa caucuses.
Not so great, he’s a believer in big government. But he may still be better than Romney or Gingrich, he’d definitely be better than Obama, and at least he’s personally a mentch.