Santorum funds rise after shock victories

Republican presidential contender Rick Santorum claimed the momentum a day after his shocking sweep of nominating contests in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri that dealt a blow to front-runner Mitt Romney.

Even though Romney holds strong advantages in financing and organisation, his campaign will have to refocus to fight the challenge from Santorum, a former US senator from Pennsylvania known for his socially conservative views.

“We definitely are the campaign with the momentum, the enthusiasm on the ground,” Santorum said.

For Romney, Tuesday included losses in two states — Colorado and Minnesota — that he won in his un-successful 2008 presidential campaign. Minnesota also became the first state where Romney did not finish in first or second place.

The startling results raised fresh doubts about whether Romney, a wealthy former private equity executive and former Massachusetts governor, can extend his support from the party establishment to win over a broad swath of Republican voters.

Santorum has finished first in four of the first eight primaries and caucuses, after his narrow victory over Romney in Iowa’s caucuses on Jan 3.

The former senator said his campaign was already bringing in more donations, an important consideration for a candidate who trails far behind Romney in the fund-raising race.

“We’re doing very, very well raising money. I think last night we raised a quarter of a million dollars online,” Santorum said.

Backed by a wealthy “super PAC” that pays for attack advertising against rivals, Romney won three of the first five state-by-state contests to pick the Republican nominee to oppose Democratic President Barack Obama in the Nov 6 election.

As he has before, Romney had seemed on track to win the nomination after big wins in Nevada and Florida last week. He had been expected to win easily in Colorado and did little campaigning in Minnesota and Missouri.

In Minnesota’s caucuses, Santorum won with 45% of the vote. Congressman Ron Paul was in second place with 27% and Romney was third at 17%.

Santorum trounced Romney by 30 percentage points in Missouri, 55% to 25%. That vote was a non-binding primary, but has symbolic value as a measure of support in a large Midwestern state.

The race was closer in Colorado where Santorum won by 5 percentage points over Romney, 40% to 35%.

Gingrich, the front-runner as recently as Jan 21, when he won the South Carolina primary, is struggling. He was not on the ballot in Missouri and was crushed in the other two states.

The next major Republican nominating contests are the Arizona and Michigan primaries on Feb 28, while Maine wraps up its caucuses this Saturday.