Last night, I, like many others, watched in great amazement as Rick Santorum beat all odds and had a clean sweep in the states of Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado. With many expecting Romney to continue his roll towards the nomination, last night was a stark reminder that no one has this thing locked up yet. What transpired will surely be the study of many political analysts for years to come.
First off, Missouri was expected to give Santorum a win. For the past week, he was polling very strong in the state with the competition a good distance behind. The results, however, were far from expected. Many felt that the Missouri primary was just a show since no delegates were at stake. But even in the face of that fact, nearly 140,000 Missourians showed up to support Santorum. When all polls closed, Rick had over 50% of the vote with Romney a distant second at barely over 25%. This margin of victory is the largest of the primary season thus far.
The argument can be made that with Newt off the ballot in Missouri, Rick Santorum received the lion’s share of the conservative vote. As I have written about previously, Gingrich was suggesting that someone needed to drop out of the race after his win in South Carolina. He felt that the conservative vote needed to be consolidated in order to really give Romney a fight. Considering Newt’s recent performances, it could very well be Santorum that starts suggesting such actions are needed.
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