GREELEY, Colo. - As his plane touched down in Denver, Colo. on Saturday afternoon, presidential hopeful Rick Santorum peeked up from his iPad to announce the first results he had seen come out of Nevada. “We’re tied with Romney in Searchlight, Nevada. That may be the highlight of our day,”  Santorum joked to the handful of reporters following him throughout the state.  "You guys are going to tweet that, aren't you?"

While most of the political world was focused on the Silver State's caucus, the former Pennsylvania senator headed east for three stops in Colorado.  He remained upbeat and largely dismissive of any impact the results would have on his candidacy -- even as it became clear he would finish last, something he has been able to avoid in all previous primaries and caucuses.

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"It's a state that very much favors Gov. Romney," Santorum said of Nevada.  "He's invested about $1 million in the state already.  Ron Paul's got close to $1 million in the state.  We just don't have those resources. We think we'll do well in some of the conservative areas...Las Vegas doesn't match up for me as well as some other states do. We're not putting an emphasis on it."

 

Santorum's absence from Nevada on Saturday marks the second straight time when the candidate was not in the state that was voting.  When Florida voters went to the polls last Tuesday, the GOP hopeful was in Nevada and arguing the Sunshine State's results show nothing more than the fact that candidates with the most money do well in the state's that are most expensive.

Since his Iowa caucus victory, Santorum has struggled to remain relevant.  With each state he has lost, the excuses have built. Romney took New Hampshire because he hailed from a neighboring state, and Newt Gingrich won South Carolina for the same reason, he argues.

Political observers point to his ailing poll numbers and comparatively low war chest as evidence Santorum's campaign is on its last legs.

But the Santorum campaign remains undeterred by the conventional thinking that their candidate needs wins that translate into momentum and money is irrelevant.  They have more money now than at any point during their run.  And while reports have indicated Newt Gingrich is losing support from some of his big money backers, Santorum to this point has not had that issue.

 The commitment does not seem to be waning from Foster Friess, the billionaire largely funding the pro-Santorum Super PAC "Red, White, and Blue Fund."  Friess has recently been with Santorum, traveling with him to each of his three stops and illustrating the blurry laws that say candidates are not allowed to collaborate with Super PACs.

"We don't talk about any activity of the Super PAC at all," said Santorum. "I have no idea about what he's doing or how much he's giving and I don't want to know. We talk about family. We talk about other activities. He's very careful in that regard and so am I."

Outside of Friess' influence, Santorum has been able to continue to translate their Iowa victory into dollars, though still underfunded compared to the campaign coffers of the three other Republicans still in the race.  Santorum has made the comment in the past that the only reason candidates stop running for president is because they run out of money.  Campaign aides say they are stretching dollars as far as possible to ensure that doesn't happen soon.

Another sign that the Pennsylvanian has no plans to leave the race are the debut of newer and sharper hits on his GOP rivals.  "Newt can throw out some funny lines about people going to jail, but he supported the basic concepts of Dodd-Frank.  And you don't think the President's going to point that out?  You don't think the President is going to point out what their position is on health care, which is identical to his?" Santorum asked while campaigning in Montrose, Colo.

"I heard Mitt Romney say the other day that he doesn't care that he doesnt care about the very poor.  He doesn't care about the very rich or the very poor, that his program's going to focus on the 95%," Santorum said. "I thought, that's not the Republican party I believe in. That's not the conservative movement I believe in.  We need a President who believe in 95%, or 99% like this president.  We need a President that's concerned with 100% of Americans."

Santorum now heads to Minnesota for a day of campaigning and will be back in Colorado Monday night. 

LUVERNE, MN -- Those thinking Rick Santorum would never be able to recapture what his campaign had in the Hawkeye State were wrong, at least for a night, when the Iowa caucus victor made a stop here in a town just ten miles north of the state that catapulted his candidacy.

Santorum held his first campaign event in a part of Minnesota just north of Lyon County Iowa, the northwest most part of Iowa with a large contingent of evangelical voters and an area where caucus returns were overwhelmingly in his favor.

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Even the originally scheduled venue, a Pizza Ranch restaurant , was reminiscent of his Iowa campaign.  He held more than 30 town halls at the restaurants located throughout the state.  Monday's town hall ended up being moved to a theater next door to accommodate the 300 person crowd, though he stopped by after to grab a bite.

"I figured, lets start bordering Lyon County as a point of strength...and make this the focal point, the starting point, for our campaign across Minnesota," said Santorum.

It was the former Pennsylvania senators first day back on the trail since his 3-year-old daughter was admitted to a Virginia hospital after developing pneumonia in both lungs.  Bella Santorum suffers from the genetic disorder Trisomy 18 and has battled the life threatening illness all of her life.  She is still in the hospital but has shown major improvements.

"I was with her last night in the hospital bed, laid with her and slept with her last night," said Santorum.  "She woke up this morning and had a big smile on her face and I thought, 'OK, dad can go back to work now.'"

He canceled campaign events in Florida on Sunday, and chose to continue his campaign with a stop in Missouri on Monday before heading to Minnesota.  He will watch Florida returns in from his Nevada headquarters.

"I don't know what's going to happen in Florida tomorrow, but it's only one race," he said. "Everyone says, 'Oh it's over then.'  It will not be. This race is going to go on a long time, and it needs to go on a long time."

Attempting to win over voters ahead of the Minnesota's Feb. 7 caucus, Santorum painted himself as the true social conservative in the race.

He talked about protecting anti-abortion rights and the importance of family -- points that have played less of a role in his stump speech since leaving Iowa.  Abandoning Florida the day before the primary shows he is focusing outside the expensive where he struggled to compete with his better funded GOP rivals and where recent polls have him a distant third.

"This is one of those races that we shouldn't make rash decisions just because someone has the most money.  Let me assure you, no matter how much more money Gov. Romney has than either Newt or I have, he's not going to have near the money President Obama's going to have.  So if you think that we're going to win this race because Gov. Romney will have more money to beat up Barack Obama, then Barack Obama will have to beat him up, you're wrong," said Santorum. "Having the most money isnt going to win this race.  having the best candidate with the best ideas"

It is caucus states like Minnesota, Colorado and Nevada were the presidential hopeful is now focusing in the hopes of being able to pick up delegates without having to outright win a state.  His message is that the baggage and records of his competitors will be a distraction in a head-to-head matchup with President Obama.

The general election "can't be about someone who is an undisciplined politician who is coming up with a new idea every ten seconds, most of which don't make any sense. Or someone who is a recent conservative in order to be able to win an election as is in both of their cases, on the major issues of the day,"

the GOP hopeful told the crowd.  Santorum has previously taken swipes at former Speaker Newt Gingrich for proposing a permanent U.S. base on the moon, Mitt Romney for never having won an election while running as a conservative.

The Santorum campaign will split time between Colorado and Nevada over the early part of this week.

 

Updated at 8:15 a.m. ET

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney eked out a razor-thin victory in Tuesday night’s Iowa Republican caucuses, holding off former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum’s late-in-the-game-surge to win.

After a night that saw the two candidates claim the lead, the GOP announced that Romney beat Santorum by just eight votes to become the apparent winner. Ron Paul finished third.

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Romney and Santorum remained virtually tied as returns came back throughout the evening in this cycle's first nominating contest.  At the conclusion, each ended up at almost exactly a 25 percent share of the vote.

Chairman of the Iowa Republican Party, Matt Strawn, announced Romney got 30,015 votes and Santorum received 30,007 votes out of a record turnout of 122,255.

The result represented a dramatic closing act by Santorum to cement a furious, last-minute surge during which conservatives rallied around his campaign.

"Game on!" the jubilant ex-senator declared in remarks shortly after midnight.

The results were also humbling to an extent for the Romney campaign, which had appeared so confident in victory that it planned an overnight stay for the candidate in Iowa tonight instead of New Hampshire, where Romney's built a firewall. The former governor had also appeared to predict victory in a Monday night speech.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul finished third, at 21 percent. 

Three other candidates, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann had also sought to beat expectations and rejuvenate their candidacies in subsequent primary contests in New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Gingrich had the edge, at 13 percent, over Perry (10 percent) while Bachmann finished in sixth, at 5 percent.
Perry said he would take the next few days to re-assess his campaign.

"I've decided to return to Texas, assess the results of tonight's caucus, determine whether there is a path forward for myself in this race," he said in remarks shortly before midnight.

But the story of the night was Santorum, who managed to rally conservatives, who'd searched desperately throughout the campaign for an alternative to Romney, after other would-be contenders washed out throughout the fall.

Santorum noted "another candidate in this race," referring to Romney, whom pundits viewed as more electable. He paused when a member of his crowd said "RomneyCare," referring to the Massachusetts health reform law Romney had enacted but conservatives deplore for its similarities to President Obama's health care reforms.

"Let me tell you: What wins in America are bold ideas, sharp contrasts, and a plan that includes everyone," Santorum said.

"We are off to New Hampshire," Santorum declared, "With your help and God's grace we'll have another fun night a week from now."
Romney, by contrast, continued to act like the campaign's frontrunner in the evening's last remarks. He congratulated Santorum and Paul on a well-fought campaign, but trained most of his criticism on President Obama. 

Photo Blog: Caucus day photos from Iowa

In the end, Romney essentially matched his vote total from 2008, though he invested much less time and money in Iowa this cycle. But he failed to deliver the knock-out blow that his campaign had hoped for by playing in Iowa, and the results underscore the existing narrative in the campaign, that Romney is struggling to win over skeptical conservatives.

Sensing that Romney is vulnerable, the campaign now seems poised to move into a new phase in which the former Massachusetts governor will suffer more scrutiny.

Gingrich presaged this new phase in his remarks Tuesday evening, in which he vowed to continue his campaign beginning Wednesday in New Hampshire. He assailed Paul and Romney, too, while congratulating Santorum for running a positive campaign, and pointedly noted he wished he could say the same for other candidates, meaning Romney.

"We are not going to go out and run nasty ads," said Gingrich, who labeled Romney a "Massachusetts moderate" again. "But I do reserve the right to tell the truth. And if the truth seems negative, that may be more of a comment on his record than the nature of politics."

Santorum punched his ticket out of Iowa in part by emerging as the winner of a virtual game of musical chairs among candidates in Iowa who had themselves as the anti-Romney candidate. The former Pennsylvania senator had campaigned in Iowa the “traditional” way, having started to stump there well before any candidate, and becoming the first candidate to visit all of the state’s 99 counties.

The former Pennsylvania senator performed best among caucus-goers who describe themselves as very conservative, according to entrance poll data. He also won over evangelical Christians and caucus attendees who tabbed social issues as one of their priorities.

Romney had hoped to score a knock-out punch in Iowa after having scarcely competed in the race until later this fall. His campaign is hoping that a late push in Iowa, plus a victory next Tuesday in New Hampshire (where Romney leads in the polls), could all but clinch the nomination.

The Hawkeye State had ended up as Romney’s Achilles Heel in 2008. After having invested heavily in winning the contest, Romney limped out of Iowa after a disappointing second place finish.

Romney tied his 25 percent share of the caucus tally he earned in 2008 by attracting the support of caucus-goers who valued electability and the economy -- core elements of Romney's 2012 message. The most deeply conservative caucus participants shied away from Romney.

In a sign that the establishment was undaunted by Romney's finish, Sen. John McCain -- the 2008 GOP nominee and Romney's sparring partner from that cycle -- was set to back Romney on Wednesday in New Hampshire.

The results raise the stakes for the primary in New Hampshire, scheduled for Jan. 10, and two subsequent primaries in South Carolina and Florida in the second half of this month.

There are two debates scheduled for this coming Saturday and Sunday, which might provide the springboard for a new, naster stage of the campaign, with the scrutiny focused on Romney.

Paul, meanwhile, managed a third place finish by leaning on an unorthodox coalition of libertarian Republicans, young caucus-goers and independents.

"We will go on, we will raise the money," he told supporters this evening. He'll head next to New Hampshire.

His campaign, both in 2008 and 2012, has been notable for its intense enthusiasm from supporters and prolific fundraising. And in Iowa, where the strength of a candidate's organization typically correlates with a strong performance, Paul is hoping his well-organized supporters can help secure victory.

But his foes had also assailed his foreign policy views, which emphasize a limited role for the U.S. on the world stage. In a traditionally hawkish party, it’s led some political observers to suggest that Paul might have a difficult time building a broad coalition of support within the GOP.

Tuesday's results also raise fresh questions about the viability of Perry and Bachmann, who each spent heavily to win only fifth and sixth-place finishes, respectively. Bachmann made no indication of the future of her campaign during remarks late Tuesday evening.
For their parts, Bachmann and Perry have said before tonight they’ll head to South Carolina, which hosts its primary -- the third nominating contest -- on Jan. 21.

In a sign he's playing the long game, though, Romney has scheduled a trip to South Carolina overnight on Thursday and Friday morning. He’s also running ads in the Palmetto State, and announced Tuesday that he’s begun running ads in Florida, which hosts the next primary, as well.