In Missouri, Santorum 55 percent, Romney 25 percent. With Gingrich off the ballot, Romney is in big trouble.
In Minnesota, Santorum 45 percent, Romney — a very distant third.
In Colorado, with 28 percent of the vote in, Santorum is up by 10 percent.
In explaining (in advance) his losses tonight, Romney was reduced to arguing he’s inevitable because he has a better organization and more resources than any of the other candidates. It was deft of Rick Santorum to point out that come November Romney won’t have either of those advantages. He won’t have more money or a better organization than Barack Obama.
He has to be the better candidate to win.
For the first time Romney faces a sustained attack from the right, by an eloquent, focused, and competent campaigner, with astonishing results.
Santorum in an excellent victory speech did not mention Newt Gingrich by name, but he also deftly turned Gingrich’s pompous Las Vegas performance on its head, putting us, we the people, in the position of the Founding Fathers, not himself. He asked us to pledge — well, not our lives — well, yes, our fortune, to RickSantorum.com — but mostly our sacred honor to the defense of liberty.
He was on fire in taking the Obama administration to task for taking away the liberty of “one little group of people . . . just Catholics in America.”
The next step for Rick Santorum: Beat Romney in Michigan in February. If Romney can’t pull out a victory there, Santorum has his path to victory.
Speaking of Santorum, Ed Rollins said tonight, he came from nowhere: “We all bet as professionals he’d be the first guy out.”
Then the voters had their say.