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COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- Rick Santorum began what could end up being a very good day for his campaign emphasizing the importance of the Colorado caucus during the first of three campaign stops in three different states on Tuesday.
Santorum made stops in Colorado and Minnesota, which host caucuses tonight, and will end the day in Missouri, where voters head to the polls for a primary. Signs indicate Santorum could do well in all three contests, possibly even win one, prompting Santorum to stress the importance of the three states and taking shots at other candidates claiming to not compete there.
"Colorado is a state that, four years ago, Gov. Romney won with 61 percent of the vote. He won and he campaigned hard here. He didn't pass it off like he's been doing the last couple of days and saying, 'Oh, well these are just non binding caucuses, they don't really matter much,'" said Santorum here this morning. "Well they mattered four years ago when he came out here and he campaigned in these very same states. You have an opportunity to reset this race, you have an opportunity to put the best person forward that can defeat Barack Obama tonight."
Missouri in particular has been dismissed by candidates and pundits as nothing more than a beauty contest. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will not be on the ballot there, and Tuesday's non-binding primary will be followed by a caucus next month. It's the state where Santorum has the best chance of winning and where Mitt Romney's campaign has downplayed expectations.
Though he may not officially win any delegates today, any victory for Santorum would be a much needed boast for a campaign struggling to remain relevant since a victory in the Iowa caucuses. Winning Missouri would allow Santorum to boast of a head-to-head victory against Romney, since Gingrich wasn't on the ballot. Along with breaking Romney's winning streak, it could help lend credibility to Santorum's argument that he is the best alternative GOP candidate to the former Massachusetts governor.
"We need to have a conservative alternative and my feeling is that Speaker Gingrich sort of had his chance in the arena and came up short in Florida and Nevada and now it’s our turn hopefully to get a one-on-one in Missouri," Santorum said on Monday at the Colorado School of Mines.
While the Romney campaign has been taming expectations with email blasts warning that their candidate cannot win every primary and caucus, Santorum is doing the opposite.
"If you're looking at the polls, today could be a very good day for the conservative cause," Santorum said.
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Farewell tour?
Last hurrah?
Last hurrah? You mean he actually had a genuine hurrah at some point?
Well, he DID win Iowa.
Touché...sorta.
That is a victory lap. So, on to the next contest, may Mr. Paul will get to strut his stuff. At the rate that this is going .....who knows.
How strange the powers-that-be picked a Massachusetts moderate to be the Republican nominee; after the Tea Party had so much success in 2010. Either the establishment has decided Tea Party policies have been a disaster or leadership thinks they know better than the Party base at the type of candidate Independents will vote for.
If I were a conservative Republican, I'd be really mad at my Party about now.
Amy, it's just Mitt's turn, that's all. Spanky wrote earlier that there was no difference between Romney and Obama, so maybe that's their strategy...that a few democrats will swing their way with the Massachusetts moderate on the ballot.
You have to wonder, Amy, at the point of having primaries---it is as if they say to the people--you can vote for whoever you want to as long as it is Romney.
This cult member and his wife are nuts . He is all wrong for America .I can see why he is getting nowhere !
Can't say I understand these "non binding delegate" contests ... but whether or not Santorum picks up a win, I think the real insight to be gleaned is how many republicans actually show up and vote. So far it's been a little under-whelming and unentuhsiastic.
The "non binding delegate" routine seems strange to me also. Is that kind of like standing at the roulette table and saying "I'll bet Red, unless Black hits"?
It just occurred to me that every time Romney croons “America the Beautiful” he’s sending subliminal messages for Gingrich and Santorum to drop out of the race. Only he got his metaphors mixed up…somewhere between “when the last cat is hung” and “when the fat lady sings” Romney came up with “when the FAT CAT sings!”
The first time or two Mitt sang at a rally it was kind of funny although very painful to hear such bad singing. Now it strikes me as kind of sad---our nation would benefit from a good discussion of our issues and the options to address them but instead of sitting down for in depth interviews and press conferences, Mitt sings America the Beautiful to his rallies.
Yo go Rick, ol' boy. We need this primary contest to last as long as possible. As long as the GNOPers are tearing each other up they are leaving our guy pretty much alone. He is sitting back and taking notes while racking up tons of money and grass roots support.
No Santorum,unless you ladies want to go back30 years,no vote. Obama is a muslim he needs to go back yo Kenya
Ah! The Coward Party has sent its representative to weigh in on the subject! Ignorance and short pants are the primary planks in its platform. Not much else to dwell upon here, although the poor punctuation and lousy English skills seem to highlight the lack of intellectual horsepower involved in Gus' post.
Fail.
dont want him in,he wants to make social security people to get less moneya nd work longer,i bet he isnt going to make less and work longer,just like all the others,you get cut while i live like a king.
who in thier right mond would vote for a guy who wants to give you cuts in your social security and all while he lives like a king?wake up amercia,you want to work longer and take cuts for king santorium??
no vote for anyone cutting my benefits,maybe you people who vote for him do ,but you take the cut,he isnt taking any,he will make more and you will pay///
let him collect social security and start over with what they avergae joe makes and that goes for all other rats and crooks in washington who dont know what ist like to live ona small paycheck every week and have more taxes taken out,this is not a free country people,vote them all out of office and start with people who want to work for the people,not against them,wake up people these guys that run for office,run for their future ,not yours,al gore talks about global warming but lives ina 9 million dollar house,he makes money off of talking about stuff and profiting on it too,its not for you america,ist for them them,the crooks who are out of jail running the country down