Santorum Delivers a GOP Stunner [Shoe-String Budget: Clean Sweep: Hat-Trick: Wins MN; MO, and CO!]

Wall St. J ^ | February 07, 2012 | NEIL KING JR. And DANNY YADRON

[Steelfish]

Santorum Delivers a GOP Stunner Former Senator Wins in Minnesota, Missouri; Romney Campaign Plays Down Nonbinding Contests

By NEIL KING JR. And DANNY YADRON

DENVER—Rick Santorum jolted the Republican presidential race Tuesday by winning nominating contests in Missouri and Minnesota, puncturing Mitt Romney's claim to be the unstoppable front-runner.

Mr. Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, was running neck and neck with Mr. Romney in preliminary returns from Colorado, a state Mr. Romney won by a wide margin in 2008.

With about 70% of the Colorado vote counted, Mr. Santorum had 38%, to 36% for Mr. Romney. Four years ago, Mr. Romney carried Colorado with 60% of the vote.

Mr. Santorum's twin victories in the Midwest will give his campaign a much-needed burst of momentum and may stir doubt about Mr. Romney's abilities to woo conservatives to his side in important electoral states such as Missouri. So far, Mr. Romney has won in states where he has devoted significant campaign time and advertising dollars.

Mr. Santorum won 55% of the Missouri vote, while Mr. Romney followed with 25%. Texas Rep. Ron Paul was trailing with 12%. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich wasn't on the Missouri ballot.

Mr. Santorum's Missouri victory margin of almost 75,000 votes over Mr. Romney was nearly 29,000 more than Mr. Romney's combined Iowa and Nevada total.

While the Tuesday results didn't directly award any of the delegates needed to claim the GOP nomination, they showed voters rejecting Mr. Romney even in states where he had performed well four years ago.

Mr. Romney had carried Minnesota in 2008 but placed third there on Tuesday. With 85% of precincts in, Mr. Santorum had 45% of the vote, while Mr. Paul had 27%. Mr. Romney had 17% of the vote and Mr. Gingrich claimed 11%.

[jps098]

At this time in 1980, Carter would easily beat Reagan according to the polls at the time.

[jersey117]

The conservatives are running against Romney instead of Obama. We will get our just desserts in November.

It may not be a popular opinion around here but I agree.

[Future Useless Eater]

Santorum is not a great choice against 0. This seems to support the idea of a brokered convention.

Agreed, sigh... oh well, at least a brokered convention is better than a guaranteed Romney win.

and any night that is bad for Romney is good for conservatives.

I just wish Santorum had a time machine and could go back...
-and reverse his constant support for the worst RINO ever: Arlan Specter
-and reverse his knife in the back to the Tea party
-and reverse his support (along with 30 of the most putrid Dems ever, including (Boxer Clinton Corzine Daschle Dayton Kennedy Kerry Leahy Murray Reid Wellstone) for forcing all states to give the vote to convicted felons,
-and reverse his support for NOT hiring more illegal alien investigators (and here)
-and reverse his siding with the Dems, and Olympia Snowe, and other RINO's so, so often!

I think that just might make Rick a CINO.

Lots of talk and platitudes, but no demonstrated history of accomplishments for Conservatives

If I really, really, had to, I could hold my nose and vote for Rick, but would rather have someone who has proven he KNOWS how to 'herd cats' in congress and has already accomplished big things for the Conservative cause.

[magritte]

The last time Newt (100%),

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Cherry picking. That’s for one year, not lifetime. What was Newt’s ACU in 1997? Oh, 75%.

[Moose4]

I’m hoping that Santorum just put a three-torpedo spread into the myth of Mitt’s “electability.” He (Romney) was way down compared to his 2008 totals in all three states.

}:-)4

[Kaslin]

Do the Santorum Nay Sayers still want him to drop out?

[Future Useless Eater]

Rick Santorum’s anti-gun record

photo from
Santorum and Guns: More liberal nonsense - www.TheReaganWing.com

www.TheReaganWing.com

the conservative conscience of the Republican Party

[JLAGRAYFOX]

As I correctly called it, taking much verabal abuse from folks on this site, Rick Santorum has now replaced Newt Gingrich as the “real, meaningful, competitive” alternative to Mitt Romney. Santorum has my wholehearted support, and...I wish him well. Darn, Rick, my boy, hard work certainly does pay off!!!

As for Romney: No substance, no depth, no grand vision, no strategic thinking, negative campaigner!!!

As for Gingrich, ego maniac, sour grapes complainer, vindictive, not focused, not balanced, negative campaigner!!!

Both Romney & Gingrich have hurt the GOP chances to defeat POTUS Obama. IMHO, both should br broomed out to oblivion as rapidly as possible. Actually, Gingrich is already toast, commiting self-Hari-Kari with every move he makes!!!

Yes.....Romney can still bag the nomination, but....Santorum and Paul are gonna make him work for it. Go Rick!!! Santorum & Rubio sound great to me!!!

[Whats-wrong-with-the-truth]

"Santorum is not a great choice against 0."

Yeah.... especially if one is wishing to maintain the continued destruction of our country.

[bigdirty]

The RINOs and MSM are going to go apeshit now to get Mittens his wins in Arizona and Michigan.

[j.argese]

As for Santorum he’s a chickensh*t who attacked both Gingrich and Mitt “Oh So Ronery” when they were unable to answer his charges.

[crusty old prospector]

THANK-YOU COLORADO, MISSOURI, AND MINNESOTA!!!!!! Minnesota you have just redeemed yourselves from electing Jesse Ventura.

There is still the issue of Al Frankenstein before they are forgiven.

[ohioWfan]

I am SO excited about this. GO RICK!!

[JLAGRAYFOX]

Friend, your comment cannot be dignified by any retort. Both Gingrich & Romney have seen their best days. And...please....get real, Gingrich and Romney both sank themselves!!!

[who knows what evil?]

It actually has a huge border with Utah, doesn't it?

...and there you go...Romney took the northwest section of Colorado bordering Utah, along with the liberal cities. Curious that Santorum took the SW portion of Colorado bordering Utah...fewer Mormons?

[Scotswife]

Bingo.

I don’t why the so called experts think that Rick’s faith and “ultra” beliefs make him unelectable.

He certainly is a more appealing candidate than McCain was - and McCain was challenging Obama right up until the financial crisis.

They are now going to commence the Palinization of Santorum.
I already see my liberal friends denouncing him as an “idiot” and a “moron” on facebook.

As if we are being well served by a brilliant man right now.

Can you imagine?
A faith filled man moving into the White House with his faith filled homeschooled family?

Can you hear heads exploding?

[Sal]

Re Obama polling better than all our candidates: read the internals of those polls.

I think you’ll find they polled a much larger percentage of Dems than Reps which is no longer the demographic. Worse than that, they polled adults with a smaller subset of registered voters with a very small subset of likely voters.

I’m not going to look it up again so I’m working from memory and not giving you exact numbers. You can look it up or wait for the next such poll so that you’ll see it for your self.

If you find a Rasmussen poll, you can usually trust that because he polls likely voters. Once in a while he has an outlier, but his next poll usually is back on.

[struggle]

ANYONE BUT ROMNEY! (and Paul)

[AuH2ORepublican]

“The last time Newt (100%), Paul (88%) & Santorum (84%) were in Congress together, 1998, Santorum was the lowest ACU rated of the three.”

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Out of curiosity, how many votes did the ACU score that year, and in how many of them did Newt actually vote? (By tradition, Speakers rarely vote.)

Besides, 1998 was not a typical year in which to compare Senators with Representatives, since the House voted on Clinton’s impeachment but the Senate didn’t vote on conviction until 1999. Thus, Newt’s votes for impeachment were counted in 1998 (and were a large percentage of the Newt votes that ACU scored) but Santorum’s votes for conviction weren’t counted until the following year.

Both Newt and Santorum had very conservative voting records in Congress. The fact that Santorum represented like a 60% Dukakis district in his 4 years in the House and a state that voted for Clinton twice, Gore and Kerry in his 12 years in the Senate, while Newt represented a very conservative GA district, makes Santorum’s record more impressive in my eyes. But I don’t think that Newt is insufficiently conservative, not by a longshot.

[LibsRJerks]

I think that is exactly what happened. The Catholics showed up...

The Bishops who read those letters in Church on Sunday had a big impact

**

Good. The Catholics NEED to start showing up — and they need to, as ONE VOICE, push back on this anti-life culture we’re fomenting and stop voting Democratic. When good men do nothing ...great evil rises up. Good men have been doing nothing for a really long time ....