Santorum stuns Romney with hat-trick triumph

DENVER

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum speaks during a town hall meeting at the Tea Party in Las Vegas in this photo. Santorum has delivered a stinging blow to Romney, winning political caucuses in Colorado, Minnesota and the primary in Missouri. AFP photo

Christian conservative Rick Santorum reignited his White House bid Feb. 7, claiming an unexpected trio of state wins that raised new question marks over Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney.

Santorum, written off only a few weeks ago, won caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado and a primary in Missouri – a clean sweep that represented another stunning turnaround in this topsy-turvy Republican presidential race. The victories were the first for Santorum since he eked out a 34-vote win over Romney in the leadoff Iowa caucuses a month ago.

With nearly all of the precincts reporting in Missouri, Santorum was the big winner with 55 percent of the vote, more than double Romney’s 25 percent. In Minnesota, Santorum won 45 percent of the vote, easily defeating Texas Congressman Ron Paul at 27 percent. Romney was a distant third at 17 percent, with 85 percent of precincts reporting. The biggest shock of the night was in Colorado, where Santorum won 40 percent of the vote, edging out Romney on 35 percent, according to official party results.

The established wisdom was that Santorum was surging in the Midwest and could take Minnesota and Missouri thanks to support from evangelical Christians, but no one expected him to win out west in the Rocky Mountains.

Romney still hopeful

“Wow! Conservatism is alive and well in Missouri and Minnesota,” Santorum told cheering supporters after victories in those two states. “Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t stand here to claim to be the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. I stand here to be the conservative alternative to Barack Obama,” he said in a victory speech in Missouri.

Romney showed no sign of disappointment with the results in remarks to supporters. “This was a good night for Rick Santorum. I want to congratulate Senator Santorum and wish him the very best. We’ll keep on campaigning down the road, but I expect to become our nominee with your help,” Romney told supporters in Denver.

The Republican battle to be the nominee to take on President Barack Obama is in an interesting repositioning phase ahead of “Super Tuesday” on March 6, when 10 states vote at once and almost a fifth of all delegates are decided.

The Missouri primary is considered a “beauty contest” because the candidates do not win delegates who will take part in the August Republican convention where the party’s presidential nominee will officially be chosen. Missouri Republicans will select convention delegates in caucuses on March 17 in the state’s two-step process. In caucuses, voters gather in public places, listen to speeches from representatives of the various candidates and cast ballots for their choice.

Compiled from AFP and Reuters stories by the Daily News staff.