Early polling showed GOP Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum with a sizeable lead heading into the Minnesota caucuses and those predictions held true as Santorum had already won 45% of the vote with 60% of precincts reporting.
Finishing in second place was Ron Paul with 27% of all votes while Mitt Romney fell behind to third place with just 17% of Minnesota’s voters showing support for Romney despite the fact that he won the state during the 2008 Presidential primary race.
In fourth place was Newt Gingrich who pulled in 10.6%.
Santorum also took the Missouri primary and early polling shows him as a favorite in Colorado.
During his Minnesota victory speech Santorum told his supports that “conservatism is alive and well” he then went on to attack President Obama noting:
“I don’t stand here and claim to be the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. I stand here to be the conservative alternative to Barack Obama.”
Santorum’s new focus on Barack Obama comes after early campaigning in Minnesota when he attacked Romney as “not inspiring. He’s not painting the vision.”
Before Minnesota’s votes were cast Mitt Romney’s camp had already begun damage control, claiming that the Minnesota contest had very little significance over the entire primary structure.
Santorum didn’t really need to attack Romney much in the state, he was glitter-bombed twice and his attempt to singe “American The Beutiful” didn’t have same effect as when President Obama sang at the Apollo Theater.
Do you think Rick Santorum will use his new momentum and in-fighting between Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney to help swing momentum in his favor?
