GOLDEN, Colo. ( AP) — Mitt Romney hopes his presidential campaign hasn’t ignored Rick Santorum’s aggressive attacks for too long, as caucuses in Colorado and Minnesota today could reshuffle the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
Santorum largely bypassed Florida and Nevada to blanket the two caucus states with criticism of Romney and lay the groundwork among conservatives who have great sway in the process. Rival Newt Gingrich praised Santorum’s strategy as shrewd even as he signaled he had no interest in exiting the fourway race, which also includes Ron Paul.
“ I think that Santorum’s going to have a pretty good day,” Gingrich told reporters on the eve of the caucuses. “He targeted differently than I did. I stayed in Florida to fight it out. … He took the same amount of time and energy and he came to Minnesota and Missouri and Colorado. For him, that was the right decision.”
Missouri’s GOP primary, also scheduled for today, promised Republicans a chance to show their allegiance to a candidate, but the effort is largely for show. No delegates will be awarded based on the outcome of the primary vote. Instead, Missouri will select delegates through a system of GOP caucuses and conventions that starts with local caucuses in mid-March. Moreover, Gingrich failed to get on the ballot in Missouri, which meant the vote there couldn’t be read as a referendum on the former House speaker’s viability.
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