What a roller coaster ride the contest for the Republican nomination for president has become!
A recap: Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has won the New Hampshire and Florida primaries and the Nevada caucuses. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina primary.
And now, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who had only a narrow Iowa caucus win under his belt, has rocketed to big, unexpected wins in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri.
Many observers had thought after Romney's Florida win that he was on a sure path to the nomination. That certainty evaporated Tuesday.
Santorum beat Romney by 40 percent to 35 percent in Colorado, where Romney had won by overwhelming margins in 2008. Santorum also defeated Romney convincingly in Minnesota, 45 percent to 17 percent -- with Texas Congressman Ron Paul coming in second at 27 percent. But Santorum's biggest margin of victory was in Missouri. He beat Romney by 55 percent to 25 percent.
So is Santorum the new front-runner? Your guess is as good as anybody's.
Santorum, like Gingrich, has much less money for advertising than Romney. Yet they are both getting far more bang for their bucks, judging from Romney's inability to pull away.
The fact that Santorum and Gingrich are still in the hunt suggests many Republican voters want a more conservative candidate than Romney is perceived to be. He has had varying positions on abortion, and he backed a Massachusetts health reform that is very similar to ill-conceived ObamaCare.
Ironically, the presence of both Gingrich and Santorum in the race may be splitting conservative votes and helping the more middle-of-the-road Romney. But Santorum's wins Tuesday suggest that division among conservative voters is no guarantee Romney will be the nominee.