Santorum positioning himself as genuine alternative
Rick Santorum's triple victories in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado provide yet another twist in the race to be the Republican candidate to contest November's general election against Barack Obama.
With Newt Gingrich's second coming in South Carolina a distant memory, Mr Santorum, a fiercely evangelical Christian, is positioning himself as the only conservative alternative to Mitt Romney.
But when the euphoria dies down, Tuesday's results will probably say far more about the weaknesses of Mr Romney as a Republican candidate than they do about the chances of Mr Santorum ever becoming president.
This was a terrible night for Mr Romney; confirming that the tepid former management consultant has far too little appeal to the conservative Republican base to beat Barack Obama.
Polls this week showed that Mr Romney still only appealed to 29pc of Republican voters, despite his big wins in Florida and Nevada. The Romney vote is flatlining, a fact reflected in a series of weak turnouts by voters in the primaries.
By contrast, Mr Santorum, who believes in Creationism, reviles gay marriage, thinks global warming is a myth and wants to bomb Iran, enthuses hardcore conservatives in a way that Mr Romney can't.
Most embarrassing for Mr Romney was to lose in Colorado, a state he romped in his failed 2008 nomination bid with 60pc of the vote, but on Tuesday fell to a five-point defeat.
Even more worrying is that defeat in Missouri and Minnesota means that Mr Romney has failed to win a single contest in the all-important Midwest, whose voters have decided all recent US elections. (© Daily Telegraph, London)
- Peter Foster in Washington
Irish Independent
