Will Minnesota and Colorado give new life to Rick Santorum?
Rick Santorum leads the polls in Minnesota and is second in Colorado. Can Santorum win over conservatives from Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney?
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum speaks at The Cable Center in Denver, Monday.
(AP Photo/Chris Carlson)
Denver
Republican candidate Rick Santorum is gunning for a victory in at least one of the three states holding presidential nominating contests on Tuesday in an attempt to slow down front-runner Mitt Romney and revive his fading White House hopes.
The former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania narrowly won Iowa on Jan. 3 but his drive to become the main conservative alternative to the more moderate Romney has not played out the way he had hoped. He has had weak showings in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida and Nevada.
Tuesday may give him a modest boost. Colorado and Minnesota hold Republican caucuses in the state-by-state battle to decide on the party's challenger to Democratic President Barack Obama in the Nov. 6 presidential election. Missouri holds what amounts to a non-binding "beauty contest."
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Pollsters said Santorum was leading in Minnesota and was second to Romney in Colorado.
A victory on Tuesday would revive Santorum's hopes and enable him to make the case to fundraisers that his campaign remains viable, and allow him to compete with former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich as the main Romney alternative.
