No delegates were at stake on Tuesday night, but Rick Santorum scored two big victories nonetheless by winning Minnesota's Republican caucuses and Missouri's Republican primary.
"Conservatism is alive and well in Missouri and Minnesota,"?Santorum said when he took the stage at his victory party in St. Charles, Mo.
"I don't stand here to be the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney," Santorum went on to say. "I stand here to be the conservative alternative to Barack Obama."
Romney, who was talked about as the Republican Party's inevitable nominee after his wins in Florida and Nevada last week, had his worst night of the 2012 presidential campaign. For the first time, he will not finish in first or second place in a Republican primary or caucus.?In Minnesota, ABC News projects that Ron Paul will take second place, while Romney and Newt Gingrich battle for third.
In the?first multi-state election night of the 2012 campaign, voters in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri cast ballots in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Colorado and Minnesota, which held caucuses, selected delegates to attend state conventions in the spring--the same process used in Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses.
Missouri, where Newt Gingrich was not able to secure a spot on the ballot, is an entirely different story, and a messier one. By state law, Missouri must hold its primary on a particular date in February. But this year, the national Republican Party mandated that--with the exception of four states that were allowed to vote in February--all others must hold their election in March or later. Yet the Missouri legislature was not able to pass a law changing the primary date, so the state held the election anyway. But the primary is non-binding--meaningless in terms of delegate selection.?There will be a Missouri caucus in April to determine who gets the state's delegates to the Republican national convention in August.
With 31 percent of the precincts reporting in Minnesota, Santorum leads with 45 percent of the vote, followed by Ron Paul with 27 percent, Mitt Romney with 17 percent and Newt Gingrich with 11 percent.
With 7 percent of the precincts reporting in Colorado, Santorum leads with 50 percent of the vote, followed by Newt Gingrich with 21 percent, Mitt Romney with 19 percent and Ron Paul with 10 percent.
Despite the zero delegates that will be awarded, the winner--or winners--on Tuesday will still be able to glean something from their victories. When Mitt Romney ran for president in 2008, he won in both Colorado and Minnesota, so his performance in 2012 is certain to be compared to how well he did four years ago.
Even with two losses on Tuesday, Romney is having a much better year in 2012 than he had in 2008: It was four years ago today that Romney dropped his bid for the presidency.
Santorum is likely to be able to use his upset victories to raise money and get media attention to help him make it through the doldrums of February. After Saturday's caucuses in Maine, there won't be another Republican election until Arizona and Michigan hold primaries on Feb. 28.
The Romney campaign seemed to suspect that Santorum would have a big night. Starting on Sunday, Romney hammered Santorum with opposition research, sending reporters a lengthy "research briefing" about Santorum's earmark spending during his time in Congress, and dispatching former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty to raise questions about Santorum's conservative credentials.
You can follow the unofficial returns from Missouri at the website of the state's secretary of state. With about two-thirds of the precincts reporting, Santorum led with 55 percent of the vote, followed by Romney with 25 percent and Ron Paul with 12 percent.
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? Senior Obama campaign officials defend president's embrace of super PAC
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