Santorum's three-state upset scrambles Republican race

Feb 8, 2012, 19:26 GMT

Washington - Rick Santorum won unexpected victories in three Republican Party nominating contests, reviving his challenge to frontrunner Mitt Romney for the conservative party's presidential nomination.

'Wow. Conservatism is alive and well,' Santorum, a former US senator from Pennsylvania, told supporters after Tuesday's hat-trick. 'I don't stand here to claim to be the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney; I stand here to be the conservative alternative to Barack Obama.'

Santorum took 55.2 per cent of the vote in a primary in the Midwestern state of Missouri, to Romney's 25.3 per cent and Texas Congressman Ron Paul's 12.2 per cent. Newt Gingrich, a former speaker of the US House of Representatives, was not on the non-binding Missouri ballot.

In the northern state of Minnesota, it was 45 per cent for Santorum, a surprising 27.1 per cent for Paul, 16.9 per cent for Romney and 10.8 per cent for Gingrich in caucus meetings.

In Colorado, a state that Romney won in his 2008 bid for the Republican nomination, Santorum had 40.3 per cent of the vote from caucus meetings. Romney had 34.9 per cent and Gingrich 12.8 per cent.

The results recast Santorum as a credible alternative to Newt Gingrich as the conservative wing's standard bearer and fueled doubts about the willingness of the Republican Party's conservative to embrace Romney, who continues to be dogged in the nomination race by his moderate record as a former governor of the liberal state of Massachusetts.

Prior to Tuesday's votes, Romney had leapt ahead as the clear frontrunner after decisive wins last week in Florida and Nevada.

Gingrich did not compete in Missouri, where the vote was written off by many commentators as a 'beauty contest' with no actual delegates to the Republican convention being awarded.

The outcome sets up an intriguing three-way contest for 'Super Tuesday' on March 6, when voters in 11 states cast their votes.

Santorum had previously notched a surprise win in the Iowa caucuses, which kicked off the election season last month. His latest victories will help him raise money to continue fighting Romney and Gingrich for the Republican nomination.