Santorum Adds Colorado Upset to Big Wins in Missouri, Minnesota

UPDATE: Rick Santorum pulled off an unlikely sweep on Tuesday, adding an upset win over Mitt Romney in Colorado to a pair of dominant victories in Missouri and Minnesota.

The chairman of Colorado's Republican Party declared Santorum the winner at around 1 a.m. Wednesday and CNN quickly followed suit. When all the votes were counted, Santorum bested Romney by five points, 40 percent to 35. Newt Gingrich, meanwhile, held on for third place, beating Ron Paul by one point, 13 to 12.

Romney won Colorado by a wide margin during his 2008 presidential campaign and entered the contest with a 10-point lead in the most recent state poll. But as the clock struck midnight it became clear that Santorum had a chance to pull off the unexpected and deny Romney what would have been a face-saving victory on an otherwise rough night for the GOP front-runner.

Even before he added Colorado to his win column, Santorum was already clearly the night's big winner after he posted easy wins in Missouri and Minnesota, states where he had focused his resources while Romney and Newt Gingrich were on the ground in Florida ahead of last week's winner-take-all primary in the Sunshine State.

While Santorum didn't officially earn any delegates from Tuesday's largely symbolic victories, his strong showing will undoubtedly breathe fresh life into a campaign that had struggled of late to inject itself into what had been shaping up mostly as a two-man battle between Romney and Gingrich.

As much as the recent round of results may shake the perception that Romney is on pace to easily claim his party's nomination, the former Massachusetts governor clearly remains the man to beat over the long haul, thanks in large part to his more established campaign infrastructure and massive cash advantage.

While Romney's lackluster showing on the heels of his Florida primary will generate plenty of bad press for the former Massachusetts governor, Tuesday's results will likely create even more trouble for Gingrich, who no longer can lay sole claim to the title as the candidate of choice for the anybody-but-Romney crowd.

The former House speaker never made it on the Missouri ballot, and Santorum's 30-point win there gives his campaign a ready-made talking point to illustrate its argument that its candidate is the best man to beat Romney in a one-on-one battle. Gingrich also placed a distant fourth in Minnesota, where Santorum was up by 18 points on Paul and 28 points on Romney with 88 percent of precincts reporting.

Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 10:52 p.m.: Put another one in the win column for Rick Santorum.

The Associated Press and CNN have called Minnesota for Santorum. With 32 percent of precincts reporting, the winner of the Iowa caucuses and the Missouri presidential preference vote leads Ron Paul, 45 percent to 27, with Mitt Romney another 10 points back at 17 percent. Newt Gingrich is fourth, with 11 percent.

Meanwhile, with 82 percent of the precincts reporting in Missouri, Santorum's lead over Romney remains at 30 percent, 55 to 25. Ron Paul sits in third, with 12 percent.

While Santorum's Tuesday night victories won't earn him any delegates, he'll certainly benefit in the next few news cycles and, not entirely unrelated, with campaign donations.

Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 9:48 p.m.: One down, two to go.

CNN and the Associated Press have called Missouri for Rick Santorum, giving the winner of the Iowa caucuses his second victory of the GOP primary season. No delegates were at stake in the presidential preference vote (those will be decided at later date), but the win -- especially if coupled with another victory in one of Tuesday's other two contests -- will likely give Santorum's campaign a much-needed shot of energy.

With 63 percent of precincts reporting, Santorum leads Romney 55 percent to 25. Ron Paul is at 12 percent. (Newt Gingrich didn't make his way onto the ballot.)

Tuesday, Feb. 7: There are no delegates up for grabs in Tuesday's trio of GOP nominating contests (those will be divvied up at other Republican events later this year), but Rick Santorum appears poised to have a big day anyway.

According to the latest polling, the Iowa caucus winner currently leads front-runner Mitt Romney in two of three states and is poised for a solid second-place in the third. A pair of mostly symbolic victories would likely give the former Pennsylvania senator another shot of energy as the anybody-but-Romney crowd continues its seemingly endless search for a candidate that can prevent the former Massachusetts governor from running away with the Republican nomination.

Public Policy Polling surveys show Santorum with a 13-point lead in Missouri, 45 percent to Romney's 32, and a 9-point lead in Minnesota, 33 percent to 24. In Colorado, Santorum trails Romney by 10 points, but is six clear of third-place Newt Gingrich.

"Rick Santorum has the potential to firmly establish himself as the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney today," said Dean Debnam, president of the left-leaning polling firm. "If he can pick up two wins and a second, it will raise significant questions about both Romney's inevitability and about the purpose for Newt Gingrich's continued presence in the race."

Colorado and Minnesota are holding nonbinding caucuses, while the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reminds us that the Missouri primary is nothing more than a "beauty contest" and is "officially meaningless" for Republicans.