Rick Santorum

Rick Santorum won Missouri's presidential primary Tuesday, according to an Associated Press projection, but the only thing he can claim as a result is some newfound momentum. Because of a scheduling dispute within the state legislature, Missouri will hold binding caucuses next month, making Tuesday's primary basically a beauty contest, lovely to look at but short on substance. No delegates will be apportioned to Santorum. Still, Santorum can argue that more Republicans showed up to cast votes for him than for Mitt Romney or Ron Paul, providing a rationale for his candidacy going forward.

When last we checked, Rick Santorum was polling at about 13% in Florida and had already left the state for potentially greener pastures in Colorado and Nevada. But in Fort Lauderdale and Miami, Santorum's supporters turned out anyway, even though they said they knew their candidate wouldn't win. Some said they couldn't stand to vote for anyone else after weeks of negative advertising by the two leading Florida contenders, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, trashing each other's reputations and biographies.

Long before his jump in the polls, Rick Santorum stood out for his debate battles with Ron Paul. The two were back at it on a bigger stage in a morning debate here just days before the New Hampshire primary, with Santorum branding the Texas congressman as an ineffective legislator that would make for a dangerous commander in chief. "He's never really passed anything of any import," Santorum charged. "And one of the reasons people like Congressman Paul is his economic plan. He's never been able to accomplish any of that.

As Rick Santorum rises in the polls, the Republican presidential candidate is receiving fresh scrutiny over his endorsement of moderate Republican incumbent Arlen Specter against a strong conservative challenger in the 2004 GOP Senate primary in his home state of Pennsylvania. At the first two stops of his final swing through western Iowa, the most conservative part of the state and his stronghold, Santorum was questioned about his endorsement of Specter, an abortion-rights supporter.

The night after his narrow loss to Mitt Romney in the Iowa caucuses, Rick Santorum argued that he was the authentic conservative in the Republican presidential race and urged New Hampshire voters to ignore his position in the polls. Though the former Pennsylvania senator has campaigned extensively in New Hampshire, he has yet to show any traction here, where he has been in the low single digits. And while social conservatives and evangelical voters drove Santorum's campaign to a near-victory Tuesday night in Iowa, those voters are just a small sliver of the electorate in New Hampshire.

Mitt Romney, campaigning in a state where he hasn't led the polls in more than a month, slashed at GOP rival Rick Santorum as a creature of Washington who betrayed conservative principles and acted like a Democrat while in office. "Sen. Santorum goes to Washington and calls himself a budget hawk. Then after he's been there a while he says he's no longer a budget hawk," Romney told scores of employees of a medical device company in Newtown, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. "Well I am a budget hawk.

As far as last stands go, Rick Santorum's campaign to rejuvenate his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination by winning his home state of Pennsylvania is looking increasingly bleak. A new poll by Public Policy Polling (PPP), released late Wednesday , has GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney ahead of Santorum 42% to 37%. The poll, conducted after Romney's primary victories in Wisconsin, Maryland andWashington, D.C.indicates a rapid, drastic swing in the former Massachusetts governor's favor.

Rick Santorum launched his White House bid from ancestral turf Monday, imploring an enthusiastic crowd of several hundred to join his fight. FOR THE RECORD An earlier version of this online article described Ron Paul as a former Texas congressman. Paul is currently serving his 12th term representing Texas' 14th congressional district . "I'm ready to lead. I'm ready to do what has to be done for the next generation, with the courage to fight for freedom, with the courage to fight for America," the former U.S. senator said from the steps of the Somerset County Courthouse.

The second poll in a week shows Mitt Romney cutting deep into Rick Santorum's lead in his home state, Pennsylvania. Romney now trails Santorum by just six points in the state with 35% to Santorum's 41%, according to a Quinnipiac University survey released Tuesday. It's a devastating shift for Santorum who on March 14 in the same poll was besting Romney 36% to 22%. The poll comes on the heels of a Franklin & Marshall College survey that found Romney behind by just two points. This week, Santorum acknowledged that Pennsylvania is a “must win” for his presidential campaign.

Rick Santorum pointedly declined Monday night to endorse presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, instead pointing out that he has not backed a candidate in the race and urging his supporters to vote their conscience. “As far as how you vote, that's up to you,” Santorum told thousands of supporters during a conference call. “I haven't supported any candidate at this point, so that's really up to you.” Part thank-you to supporters and part fundraising plea, the call took place nearly a week after Santorum dropped his bid, and eight days before his home state of Pennsylvania holds it primary.