GOP Presidential Primary Hat Trick: Rick Santorum Clean Sweep over Romney in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri

RICK SANTORUM, YES HE DID …

The day started as a Romney GOP Primary momentum with wins in Florida and Nevada and ended in the most unlikely Rick Santorum Hat trick with wins in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado. Is Santorum the latest flavor of the month or a viable candidate to run against Barack Obama? The GOP primary has taken another turn. Who would have thought at this point that Santorum would have had more wins than Romney t this point in the race?

Rick Santorum had a breakthrough night Tuesday, winning GOP presidential contests in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado, all of which is expected to breathe life into his struggling campaign and slow Mitt Romney’s march to the Republican presidential nomination.

The Santorum triumphs promise to, at least temporarily, alter the face of the campaign going into the crucial “Super Tuesday” contests, as the caustic tone of the primaries is expected to continue and intensify. Romney and his allies have signaled that they will use their financial advantage to launch stepped-up attacks on Santorum and on former House speaker Newt Gingrich, the other main challenger.

Cal it what you want, sweep, hat trick or trifecta … what Santorum accomplished last night was impressive. However, the only fear of a Santorum-Obama match up are the words that actually came from Rick’s mouth when discussing an election without negative ads and being outspent in advertizing 5 to 1. Conservatives and Republicans have to take a realistic look at this and know that Obama is going to outspend any GOP candidate and as for negative ads, forget about it.

However, one thing is for certain, maybe its time for Newt Gingrich to get out of the race and Santorum is the people’s conservative choice. Gingrich is in trouble, maybe its time to fade into the sunset. Santorum is now the non-Romney candidate.

Romney Did Win Big in Nevada Despite Caucus Voting Chaos, Up in Colorado, Arizona & Michigan … Close Call in Minnesota

It would appear that Romney is going to dominate February …

The Nevada Caucuses took place Saturday and Mitt Romney was declared the winner; however, they have still yet to count all of the caucus votes. What is going on with the caucus system in the US. First Iowa was a fiasco in that they declared Romney the winner, only to later learn that Santorum won. However, in Nevada Romney will still be the winner as he was up big with about 73% of the voting counted, the problem is that the final 25% counting. Whether they want to get the vote counts correct or not to avoid the embarrassment to Iowa, the fact of the matter is that the lack of timely counting still leaves egg on Caucus system faces.

And, still, party officials in Nevada’s largest county continue to count the vote.

“We are going to get this right,” Clark County Chairman David Gibbs told the Las Vegas Sun today. “If it takes us a little bit of time to get it rights, we are going to take the time.”

As the GOP primary candidates look to future states, Romney appears top be up in Colorado, Arizona and Michigan … however, the race is too close to call in Minnesota.

Mitt Romney Appears to be Coasting to Big Victory in Nevada Republican Caucuses (UPDATE: Romney Wins Nevada)

Mitt Romney cruising to easy win in Nevada …

With early results being counted in the Nevada Republican Caucuses, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney appears well on his way to an easy and overwhelming majority victory in Nevada. According to CNN, with 3% reporting, Romney 52%, Paul 20%, Gingrich 19% and Santorum at 9%, Romney will win gig in Nevada with Gingrich a distant second and possible third. Although, Ron Paul has already left Nevada and is in Minnesota giving speeches. What’s up with that?

Looks like Romney will win by this much

Mitt Romney is actually doing better than pre-Caucus polling. In 2008, Romney won the Nevada Caucus with 51.1% of the vote.

UPDATE I: The following is quite amazing for Romney, if the majority voting margin continues … as per the AP,  Conservatives accounted for about 4 in 5 voters in the Nevada Caucus and around 3 in 4 Nevada voters said they were tea party supporters.

UPDATE II: 10% reporting, Romney 48%, Paul 21%, Gingrich 20%, and Santorum 11%.

What is interesting is that it looks like Nevada will be the second state in a row that dispels Gingrich’s theory that Santorum needs to get out of the race to consolidate the conservative vote against Romney to win. That was not the case in Florida and certainly not in Nevada. So far Gingrich + Santorum only equals 33%. That is 15% less that Romney’s totals so far tonight.

UPDATE III: CNN Calls Nevada for Romney.

Florida Primary, a Romslide: Mitt Romney Rolls in the Sunshine State, Wins Big … Romney 46%, Newt 32%, Santorum 13%, Paul 7%

Mitt Romney wins big in Florida …

After all the debates, after all the ads, it was not even close.  With nearly 100% of the votes in, Mitt Romney wins in a landslide with 46% of the vote, Newt Gingrich second with 32%, Rick Santorum third with 13% and Ron Paul fourth with 7%. Romney gained a greater percentage of the vote than even the polls predicted.

It was an emphatic comeback for the former Massachusetts governor, who successfully fended off a major threat from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga).

With 74 percent of precincts reporting, Romney led Gingrich 47 percent to 32 percent. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum came in third with 13 percent and Texas Rep. Ron Paul was last with 7 percent.

Exit polls showed the factors that most Florida voters used to make their decision clearly favored Romney.

Voting by county can be seen HERE.

The primary battle moves on to Nevada and Michigan, both Romney territory. Some have questioned the nastiness of the tone that the GOP primary has become; however, Mitt Romney took a different perspective on the negative campaigning during his victory speech tonight.

Welcomed to the stage at his election-night party in Tampa by his wife, Ann Romney, the former Massachusetts governor said he had news for those in the Democratic Party who hoped a hard-fought primary would leave the eventual nominee too weak to win in November.

“I’ve got news for them: A competitive primary does not divide us, it prepares us, and we will win,” Romney said. “When we gather back here in Tampa seven months from now for our convention, ours will be a united party with a winning ticket for America.”

However, if Romney continues to win primaries, Newt Gingrich is going to have to bow out for the good of the party and unity. Although Newt pledges a drawn out primary battle. Really Newt? You are so quick to tell Santorum to leave the race, yet if you get beat in primary after primary, you with stay in the race. Who does that benefit but Obama? At some point if it comes to a continued primary thumping like Gingrich suffered this evening, he is going to have to act like a statesman and for the for the good of the Republican party end his Presidential run and endorse the GOP nominee. A continue drawn out primary is a mistake.Newt, you might want to think of country first and not yourself, it that is possible.

But the former House speaker is vowing a drawn-out battle for delegates as the Republican race turns next to Nevada, and then a batch of primaries in western and midwestern states. Gingrich said at his Florida rally that the latest primary showed the election has come down to a “two-person race” between him and the “Massachusetts moderate.”

As supporters waved signs emblazoned with the words, “46 States To Go,” Gingrich declared he plans to defeat “money power” with “people power” in the coming months — casting his campaign as a counterbalance to the “establishment.”

Good grief Newt, how about some cheese with that “whine”? I am no avid Romney supporter but dude … you lost and lost badly. Your complaining about negative, false ads is pathetic. What do you think that Barack Obama is going to do with $1 billion and a MSM who is in the tank for him? And also no congrats to Romney for the win in Florida. Newt may be the greater conservative, but that thin skin is hardly a positive.

Hat Tip: Hot Air

It is pretty obvious that Romney will win Nevada as it has a huge Mormon population. Romney won the 2008 Nevada caucus with over 51% of the vote. It would be a huge upset if Mitt did not do the same in 2012.

Rick Santorum’s Youngest Daughter Bella Hospitalized … Cancels All Florida Events … Say a Prayer

File this one under having the correct priorities in life.

There was a news story out on Friday that Republican Presidential primary hopeful Rick Santorum had left Florida and gone home to Pennsylvania. Many speculated that maybe Santorum was getting out of the race. However, the story is much more important than any political election. It is now being reported that Rick Santorum’s youngest daughter Bella was hospitalized. Santorum had canceled all of his political events to be with his family and his daughter.

Rick Santorum’s 3-year old daughter has been hospitalized in Philadelphia, his campaign said Saturday.

“Rick and his wife Karen are admitting their daughter Bella to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia this evening,” Santorum spokesman Hogan Gidley said in a statement.

Isabella Santorum, one of the presidential candidate’s seven children, has a genetic disorder known as Trisomy 18 that causes people to be born with an extra copy of the 18th chromosome. The disorder causes developmental abnormalities, and half of infants born with the condition do not survive for more than a week after birth, according to the National Institutes of Health.

It was not initially stated why she was hospitalized; however, as reported at ABC News, Bella was admitted to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, PA with pneumonia.

The reason Bella Santorum was admitted to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Saturday night is because she has pneumonia in both of her lungs, a campaign aide told ABC News.

The 3-year-old, who has the serious genetic disorder Trisomy 18, is not on a ventilator, though, which is a very good sign.
Please all say a prayer for the Santorum’s and their precious three year old daughter Bella.

Please say a prayer for the Santorum family and little Bella. Let me also say, KUDOS to Rick Santorum for having the proper priorities. No political office is more important than the health of a child. None. Get well soon Bella!!!

BTW Newt, forget Santorum dropping out, maybe you should! Stop worrying about others and worry about yourself. You are getting trounced in Florida and it has nothing to do but anyone but yourself.