Thread: Santorum wins Missouri primary

Feb 07, 2012

Live blog: Santorum wins Missouri primary

By Catalina Camia, USA TODAY Updated 2m ago

We're live-blogging the results from GOP presidential contests in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado.

Rick Santorum is battling with Mitt Romney in Minnesota and Missouri, while Romney is looking to Colorado for his fourth win in a GOP primary or caucus. Scroll down for updates.

9:51 p.m. ET

Santorum was the only candidate to campaign in Missouri, whose primary had nothing to do with the allocation of GOP convention delegates. Still, the symbolism is important to the former Pennsylvania senator, who appears to be defeating Romney by a 2 to 1 margin. His last win came in Iowa.

Santorum is supposed to speak tonight from St. Charles, Mo.

9:46 p.m. ET

It's official: AP has called Santorum the winner of the Missouri primary.

9:42 p.m. ET

CNN is projecting Rick Santorum has won the Missouri primary.

9:37 p.m. ET

More than one-quarter of the votes are counted in Missouri and Santorum has more than half the GOP vote. He's followed by Romney and Paul. Gingrich isn't on the Missouri ballot.

9:14 p.m. ET

Jon Huntsman's daughters are back! The popular Twitter feed of Abby, Liddy and Mary Anne is promoting the former GOP presidential candidate's appearance this evening on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. We're sorry we missed @Jon2012girls hilarious Super Bowl related tweets, but check them out for yourself.

We blogged earlier today about Huntsman's post-presidential campaign plans.

8:35 p.m. ET

Paul is knocking the Federal Reserve and its monetary policy. He gets huge applause for his line about auditing the Fed, one of the cornerstones of his campaign. "Make sure they're actually holding the gold they claim they're holding," he says.

8:33 p.m. ET

CNN is showing Ron Paul, who is speaking at a caucus in Maple Grove, Minn. He begins by telling the crowd he's delivered 4,000 babies as an obstetrician-gynecologist, and gets applause by talking about his military service.

"I've been campaigning for the cause of liberty for a long time," the Texas congressman says, saying politicians who don't obey the Constitution are the biggest source of problems in Washington.

8:23 p.m. ET

Some very early returns from Missouri show Romney leading Santorum. A reminder that this is a GOP "beauty contest," since it's not part of any delegate selection process. The Show Me state's national convention delegates will be chosen at district conventions in April and a state convention in June.

8:20 p.m. ET

Romney is slated to give a major economic address Feb. 24 at the home stadium of football's Detroit Lions, ahead of the Michigan primary.

The Associated Press says the former Massachusetts governor's address to the Detroit Economic Club quickly sold out at a local hotel, so the speech was moved to Ford Field. The Michigan primary is Feb. 28.

Romney was born in Michigan, and his father was governor of the state and ran American Motors.

Updated 8:01 p.m. ET

Newt Gingrich tells CNN that tonight's results will show the "elite media" can no longer consider Mitt Romney the "inevitable" GOP presidential nominee.

Gingrich says he is looking forward to the Super Tuesday contests on March 6 to build support for his campaign.

Rick Santorum is poised to win in Minnesota and Missouri, two of the three states that vote tonight. Romney is expected to do well in Colorado.

Gingrich repeated his vow to stay in the race through the Republican National Convention in Tampa. He said it's not "harmful" to have a contested GOP primary.

Our original post begins here:

Can Rick Santorum win two states in the first night of multistate contests in the GOP presidential race?

We'll be live blogging results from the GOP caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado and Missouri's primary. No delegates will be awarded tonight, so it's all about bragging rights and momentum for the four-man Republican field.

USA TODAY's Susan Page and Jackie Kucinich will have more in Wednesday's editions.

Polls show Santorum, who won the Iowa caucuses, with leads over GOP front-runner Mitt Romney in Minnesota and Missouri. The former Pennsylvania senator asked Missouri supporters to help him "reset" the race.

Romney is looking to Colorado for his fourth win this year in the race for the Republican nomination. His campaign is playing down its expectations, in a memo that emphasizes the former Massachusetts governor's long-term plans.

"Of course, there is no way to win first place in every single race," Romney's political director Rich Beeson wrote in the campaign memo.

The Colorado outcome could be the most important, since the state is one of about a dozen swing states where the general election with President Obama will be fought the hardest.

Newt Gingrich has been spending the day campaigning in Ohio, which votes on March 6 as part of the Super Tuesday contests. Ron Paul is looking ahead to a straw poll Saturday in Maine.

Live blog: Santorum wins Missouri primary

Santorum is leading in Minnesota.

http://www.alipac.us/f12/minnesota-r...esults-250377/

I believe Santorum won these states because of what has been in the news this week. The attack on the Catholic Church and the threat from Iran. Obama are you listening the American people are speaking!

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http://www.alipac.us/f12/santorum-wi...ssouri-250387/