The GOP’s eyes are currently fixed on Rick Santorum. It seems that the Santorum campaign has managed to slow, at least temporarily, Mitt Romney’s seemingly inevitable march toward the Republican nomination.
 
In a stunning turnaround for what seemed to be a flagging presidential bid, Santorum won Tuesday night’s caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado and the nonbinding primary in Missouri.
 
Romney’s campaign claims that it didn’t focus on these states, which it believes accounts for its heavy losses. This seems, however, to be mostly retroactive damage control; the Romney campaign did in fact campaign hard in Colorado, a state that he won (along with Minnesota) in 2008.  
 
Newt Gingrich’s campaign purportedly neglected yesterday’s states in order to focus on those that will be holding their primaries on “Super Tuesday” on Mar. 6 — races that will be worth over 400 delegates. Gingrich was not on the ballot in Missouri.
 
Santorum’s victory is a clear blow to the Romney and Gingrich campaigns — and a signal that Romney cannot coast on the belief that he is the inevitable nominee. Likewise, Gingrich will no longer be considered the only serious option for conservative voters dissatisfied with Romney’s liberal bent.
 
There now exists the possibility, however, that Santorum will split the conservative Republican vote with Gingrich, giving the more moderate Romney supporters a better chance of seeing their nominee win the GOP nomination. If Santorum’s momentum continues, it will be a major hit to Gingrich, who has campaigned on his conservative identity versus Romney’s moderate streak.  
 
Santorum has proven to the party that he can take on Romney and is impressing voters with his populist, old-school conservative message. Most notably, he has attacked the Obama administration’s mandate on free contraception from organizations that provide health insurance, including Catholic ones, and compared Romney’s Massachusetts healthcare program to Obamacare. The wins will be a major boost to Santorum’s fundraising efforts, which could allow him to continue riding the wave of support he has garnered.
 
It was noted that there was incredibly low turnout in all three races, which could potentially signal that, while voters may be starting to consider Santorum the conservative alternative to Romney, they still are unsatisfied with all of the four current candidates.  
 
And while Santorum swept last night’s races, it remains to be seen if his sudden momentum will carry him all the way to the White House. Only time – and more primaries – will tell.

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