Santorum wins Minnesota, gains momentum against Romney

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum banked on Minnesota becoming a game-changer for his campaign and got more than he bargained for.

Santorum was declared the winner of the Minnesota caucuses Tuesday night, according to the Minnesota Secretary of State's website. As of this writing with only 73 percent of precincts reporting, Santorum was leading with 45 percent of the votes, followed by Texas Rep. Ron Paul with 27 percent, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at 17 percent and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich at 11 percent. According to the Associated Press, Santorum also won Missouri.

Rick Santorum was the big winner in Tuesday's elections.

In 2008, Romney won the Minnesota caucuses with 41 percent of the vote while the eventual nominee John McCain only garnered 22 percent. Even though Santorum won Tuesday's contest, delegates to the Republican National Convention won't be decided for several months. But pundits and political junkies can expect this to be the game-changer Santorum needs to be a serious contender against Romney and President Barack Obama.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I don't stand here to be the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney. I stand here to be the conservative alternative to Barack Obama," he told a crowd in Missouri Tuesday night.

Since the eve of the Florida primary, Santorum made seven campaign stops in Minnesota, including one in Blaine earlier Tuesday. Meanwhile, Paul made five campaign stops and Romney and Gingrich only visited once.

Folks, this race is anywhere but over. If you would have asked me who would have won the Minnesota caucuses a week ago, I would have said Romney based on the political machine he has. But speaking to voters and Republican activists on the campaign trail this week, many said they were not convinced Romney could beat Obama because he's too moderate. And each candidate made drove that point home during their campaign swings in Minnesota.

Another point that a friend of mine posted Tuesday night is that former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty is no longer the political heavyweight in this state he perceives himself to be. After Pawlenty dropped out of the presidential election in August, he endorsed Romney and has been campaigning for him ever since. He even tried convincing voters that Santorum lacked fiscal discipline and was once a supporter of health mandates - something Santorum denied.

It's also worth noting that Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, a former candidate in the field who also proclaimed herself last week to be the best candidate to defeat Obama, did not offer an endorsement to any candidate prior to the caucuses. I doubt she will place her bets on Gingrich the way former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin did during the South Carolina primary two weeks ago.