In yet another crazy turn in the Republican race for the White House in 2012, former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum dealt frontrunner Mitt Romney a stunning series of defeats on Tuesday night, again changing the momentum in this GOP battle.
Santorum won by 30 points over Romney in Missouri, beat him by 30 points in Minnesota and then squeezed out an upset victory in Colorado over the former Massachusetts Governor, who had won the Centennial State with 60% of the vote in 2008.
The final announcement came just after 1 am Eastern Time, giving Santorum a completely unexpected hat trick and sweep of Romney.
Don't tell me you knew this was coming - Santorum finished dead last in both Florida and Nevada in the past week - but something clicked for him in these three states, as he now owns the most GOP victories in 2012.
Santorum has won Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado; Romney has victories in New Hampshire, Nevada and Florida; Gingrich won in South Carolina.
The triple victories for Santorum over Romney not only gives Santorum a big boost, but again raises major questions about Romney's candidacy.
Is this just the normal kind of hiccup along the way for a frontrunner? Or is this something more serious for Republicans, who also saw another night of lower turnout, as happened in Florida and Nevada.
The problem for Romney is that he won't have the chance to turn things around for several weeks, as after the finish of Maine's caucuses this weekend, there isn't another contest until February 28, when primaries are held in Michigan and Arizona.
One week later is Super Tuesday.
Look for the Romney campaign to go after Santorum a bit more in coming days, while the former Senator tries to capitalize on his triple win by raising more money.
Left out on the sidelines in all this - both Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul. Paul at least had a second place in Minnesota, but Gingrich edged him for third in Colorado.
In the end, Santorum proved that his delayed victory in Iowa was no fluke; now he'll have to see if he can survive an expected onslaught of attacks from the Romney camp over the next three to four weeks.
