Yesterday in Florida Mitt Romney finally got his frontrunner groove back. After getting a "Palmetto Pounding" in South Carolina at the hands of former Speaker Newt Gingrich, the former Massachusetts Governor returned the favor with his own electoral shellacking. Meanwhile, former Senator Rick Santorum was focusing his time and effort here in Colorado, where he picked up some big time endorsements.
Romney's 16 point trouncing of Gingrich in Florida re-shifted the race heading into February, a month dominated by low-turnout caucuses that has been described as a "Rubicon of downtime" that campaigns must survive before Super Tuesday on March 6.
The race now shifts to Nevada's caucus on February 4 and Maine's caucus, a strange week-long process that takes place from February 4-11, virtually ensuring no coverage is given to that race.
On Tuesday, February 7, Colorado conservatives get to weigh in and Rick Santorum is playing hard for Centennial State GOP votes.
Today, at a campaign event at Colorado Christian University, Santorum unveiled endorsements from former Congressman Tom Tancredo, former Lt. Gov Jane Norton, former Congressman and current Chairman of the state Board of Education Bob Schaffer, Weld County Commissioner Sean Conway, and state Senators Kent Lambert and Scott Renfroe.
That is notable not only because that list contains a hefty chunk of high profile conservatives, but also because many, including Tancredo and Conway, endorsed Romney's campaign in 2008.
Santorum has announced more events in Colorado than any other primary contender, including an event in Lone Tree yesterday, four today and another one in Golden on Monday. Kirk Siegler of NPR reports on Twitter that Santorum has also scheduled events for the day before Tuesday's caucus, including an event at DU.
Ron Paul was in town yesterday, drawing crowds of over 1000 people. It is expected he'll surpass his fourth place showing from 2008, but it is hard to determine how well he will ultimately do here. Paul has been underperforming expectations in the last couple of states, especially in states with elections open to only registered Republicans like Colorado.
Newt Gingrich has yet to schedule a Colorado event. NBC's Chuck Todd reported he would be skipping Colorado, but sources close to Gingrich's campaign in Colorado tell us to "stay tuned." There's been talk of Gingrich attending the same energy summit event as Santorum in Golden on Saturday.
Romney plans on being in Colorado on February 6 and 7, with a source informing us of a fundraiser in Cherry Hill Village/Englewood on the night of February 6. He may arrive even earlier, according to Fox 31's Eli Stokols who reported that Romney was potentially coming to Grand Junction on Saturday night, based on a Romney campaign offer of a press charter there. Stokols most recently tweeted that the GJ event may end up being in Colorado Springs.
If you hear of any GOP events we don't have listed on our schedule of events, please email us at tips (at) coloradopeakpolitics.com
(Photo Credit: CO GOP Facebook page)