Rick Santorum Wins in a Sweep of Three States

Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum swept three contests on Tuesday, scoring big wins in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri.

Santorum, who had not won a state since upsetting Mitt Romney in the Iowa caucus, took 40 percent in the Colorado caucus followed by Romney with 35 percent. Newt Gingrich took a distant third with 13 percent, just ahead of Ron Paul with 12 percent. The win should give Santorum 15 more delegates while Romney is estimated to have won six delegates. Having won in Colorado and taken more than 60 percent of the vote in 2008, Romney was expected to win in the Centennial State.

In the caucus contest in Minnesota, Santorum did even better, winning an estimated 13 more delegates with 45 percent while Paul took second with 27 percent. Romney placed third with 17 percent, ahead of Gingrich who took 11 percent.

Santorum also romped to victory in the nonbinding Missouri primary, taking 55 percent, with Romney in a distant second with 25 percent. Paul took third with 12 percent. Gingrich was not on the ballot in the Show Me State.

While Santorum is still behind Romney in the delegate count, his victories on Tuesday night show that there remains major discontent with the Republican front-runner who also lost South Carolina last month to Gingrich.