Live coverage of the aftermath of Rick Santorum's big win in the latest round of voting in the Republican presidential nominaton race
Welcome to the morning after the night before, which if you're Mitt Romney, is a very bad morning indeed. We'll be covering the hangover for the candidate formerly known as the frontrunner as he picks up the pieces of his campaign.
Here's a summary of the dramatic events of last night by our reporter Ryan Devereaux:
Rick Santorum swept the board with victories in both Minnesota and Colorado's caucuses, as well as a symbolic win in Missouri's "beauty contest" primary. With 95% of Minnesota's caucus votes reported this morning, Santorum emerged as the clear winner with 44.8%. Ron Paul followed with 27.2%. Romney came in third with 16.9% and Gingrich brought up the rear with 10.7%.
In Colorado – a state won easily by Mitt Romney in 2008 – Santorum caused the biggest upset. With all the votes in, Santorum clocked up 40.2%, followed by Romney who received 34.9%. Gingrich came in third with 12.8% and Paul fourth with 11.8%. Santorum's victory in Missouri was symbolic as the primary does not contribute ot the process of awarding delegates , but it drew over 200,000 voters.
Santorum said his win last night was a victory for social conservatism. Speaking to supporters last night, Santorum set his sights higher than his chief rival in a bold speech. "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.
Mitt Romney's campaign attempted to brush off the devastating results. Aides to the former Massachusetts governor claim he didn't campaign very hard in Missouri and pointing out that John McCain lost a number of states before clinching the 2008 nomination. Still, the defeats are significant. The Romney camp had expected wins Tuesday night and in Minnesota he came in a distant third. Romney's loss in Colorado was the most galling. In 2008, swept to victory with 60% of the vote, handily beating McCain who earned just 19%.
Santorum will face significant challenges in the coming weeks as the race takes on a more national dynamic. He his considerably outmatched when it comes to campaign spending, particularly in comparison to Romney. Santorum's aides expect his Super PAC, Red, White and Blue, will receive a flood of support in light of the wins. It remains to be seen, however, if his momentum can withstand a potential deluge of attack ads from Romney's well-funded supporters.
Voters are already caucusing in Maine, where the process ends on Saturday. After the Maine result is announced, there are 17 days before the next election.
