Santorum surges

Eli Huscher, Reporter 2/17/2012

United States presidential hopeful Rick Santorum has swept the contests for the Republican Party nomination in Minnesota, Missouri, and Colorado. Mr Santorum outperformed longtime front-runner Mitt Romney, who has struggled to connect with the party's conservative base.The eventual nominee will face Barack Obama in November's election.Former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich hardly campaigned in the three states that voted on Tuesday, and did not even appear on Missouri's ballot. In Minnesota's caucuses, with 95% of the vote counted, Mr Santorum was on 45%, while Texas Congressman Ron Paul was on 27% and former Massachusetts Governor Romney had 17%.

In Missouri's primary, with all votes counted, Mr Santorum won with 55%, well ahead of Mr Romney at 25% and Mr Paul on 12%.After an anxious wait, the Republican Party chairman in Colorado eventually declared Mr Santorum the winner in that state's caucuses, too. Final results showed Mr Santorum won the state with 40% of votes, with Mr Romney on nearly 35%.

Zack Allen (12) is a firm believer in Rick Santorum after viewing the way the race for the Republican nomination has gone. He says he “used to support Romney” but after his campaign tactics has become “disillusioned.”

Pitching himself as the only true conservative in the race, Mr Santorum had campaigned hard in Minnesota and Missouri states with significant blocks of Tea Party and evangelical Christian voters respectively.Polls had showed him performing well, and predicted the possibility he would win in either or both states. But while Mr Romney's team had sought to manage expectations, they still retained hopes of a Colorado victory.

The former Pennsylvania senator, Santorum,who had not won a contest since his narrow win in Iowa's caucuses in January, had been viewed as a long-shot candidate.Tuesday's victories will inject new momentum into his campaign, as he hopes to displace Mr Gingrich as the Mr Romney's main challenger.

Mr Gingrich, who was campaigning in Ohio, told CNN: "I think the big story coming out tonight is going to be that it's very hard for the elite media to portray Governor Romney as the inevitable nominee after tonight's over."Correspondents say Mr Gingrich's game plan is to ride out February and hang on until March when Southern states come into play. As a former Georgia representative with a long history in the south, his campaign feels he stands a better chance of success in those states.

In a last-ditch effort to win over social conservatives ahead of Minnesota and Colorado's caucuses, Mr Romney tried to boost his credentials on being anti-abortion, pro-religious freedom and opposed to gay marriage.During his first run for the Republican presidential nomination back in 2008, when he challenged John McCain, Mr Romney won in both Colorado and Minnesota.Both states are perceived to have moved to the right since then, so doubts over his Mormon faith and political record as governor of a liberal state could have cost him votes.