Romney battles Santorum, Paul in GOP caucuses

ST. CHARLES, Mo. — Republican front-runner Mitt Romney battled Rick Santorum and Ron Paul on Tuesday in political caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado, hoping to extend his winning streak in the race for the presidential nomination.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich mounted no significant campaign in either state, looking ahead to primaries elsewhere.

Romney prevailed in both Minnesota and Colorado in 2008, the first time he ran for the nomination, but the GOP has become more conservative in both states since then under the influence of tea party activists.

There were 37 Republican National Convention delegates at stake in Minnesota and 33 more in Colorado.

In addition, Missouri held a non-binding primary on Tuesday. The state picks its delegates at caucuses next month.

Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, campaigned aggressively in all three states, seeking a breakthrough to revitalize a campaign that has struggled since his narrow first-place finish in the Iowa caucuses a month ago.

Paul, a Texas lawmaker, has yet to win a primary or caucus.

Romney began the day the leader in the delegate chase, with 101 of the 1,144 needed to capture the nomination at the Republican National Convention this summer in Tampa. Gingrich had 32, Santorum 17 and Paul nine.

Taken together, the number of delegates at stake Tuesday was the largest one-day total yet in the Republican race to pick a rival for President Barack Obama. Even so, the campaigning was a pale comparison to the Iowa caucuses or primaries last month in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida.

Television advertising was sparse; neither Colorado nor Minnesota hosted a candidates' debate, and there was relatively little campaigning by the contenders themselves until the past few days.

The same was true in last weekend's Nevada caucuses, which Romney won on the heels of a Florida primary victory days earlier. The same pattern holds in Maine, where caucuses finish on Saturday.

Not until primaries in Michigan and Arizona on Feb. 28 is the campaign likely to regain the intensity that characterized the first few weeks of the year. Then it roars back to life with a 10-state Super Tuesday on March 6 with 416 convention delegates at stake.

Santorum, in particular, hoped to seize the relative lull to redeem the promise of his Iowa victory.