- Santorum sweeps in Minn., Colo., Mo.
- Santorum picks up delegates with win in Minnesota
- Paul says GOP result 'opens up the door'
- Paul says results help him rack up delegates
- Romney says he still expects to be GOP nominee
- White House hinting compromise on birth control
- Gingrich hits Romney, Obama, on Catholic rights
- GOP gets Minn. focus now, uphill fall fight awaits
- Obama campaign urges donors to embrace super PAC
- Romney: No Komen money for Planned Parenthood
- Tea party: Warming or resigned to Mitt Romney?
- Gallery: CO, Minn. GOP caucuses
- Interactive Map: A look at the GOP primaries and caucuses
- Full coverage
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As voters cast ballots in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri, Newt Gingrich predicted on Tuesday that “it’s going to be a good day for Santorum and a relatively bad day for Romney.”
Saying that he expects himself to be in the “middle of the pack” in the three races and that the goal of his campaign is to tie Mitt Romney for the lead by the time they get to Texas, Gingrich insisted in a morning appearance on Fox News that all signs pointed to bad news for the current front-runner.
“In Colorado [Romney’s] now 20 points below where he was in 2008, and I think he’s similarly down in Minnesota,” he said. “This is a long process and we’ve only begun the choice, and I think you’re going to see us talking about big ideas, big solutions and giving people a real choice on Super Tuesday.”
The former House speaker criticized Romney for launching a flood of negative ads against him in Florida — a move that “damaged me and damaged him” — and said Rick Santorum so far has been untouched by attacks from his fellow hopefuls.
“He’s been very positive. I think we now have a very interesting three-way race, which in a sense bodes well for Romney because his whole strategy was to … avoid a long marathon,” Gingrich said, insisting that the GOP race would in fact be a long race to the finish.
“This is going to be a long marathon,” he said. “I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see it go all the way to … California in early June.”
