Political Roundup: Santorum Wins Three States, Romney Takes Nevada, Gingrich Gives Up Virginia Ballot

Rick Santorum greets supporters in Missouri on Tuesday. (AP Photo)Here's a look at what's happened recently in the world of politics:

Santorum wins in Minnesota, Colorado, Missouri

Confounding pundits who guessed that he was planning to bow out of the race soon, Rick Santorum won both the Minnesota and Colorado caucuses as well as the non-binding primary in Missouri on Tuesday.

"I don't stand here to claim to be the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney," Santorum told supporters. "I stand here to be the conservative alternative to Barack Obama.

Santorum took 45 percent of the vote in Minnesota; Ron Paul came in second with 27 percent, Romney took 17 percent, and Gingrich had 11 percent. In Colordao, Santorum beat Romney 40 percent to 35 percent; Gingrich came in third with about 13 percent of the vote, and Paul was last with about 12 percent. And in Missouri, Santorum won twice as many votes as Romney, with 55 percent of the vote to Romney's 25 percent (Paul had 12 percent and Gingrich wasn't on the ballot). The sweep didn't garner any delegates -- Colorado's 36 and Minnesota's 40 delegates are chosen through local conventions, and the 52 delegates from Missouri are parceled out in a caucus on March 17.

Romney wins Nevada caucuses

After trouncing his opponents in the Nevada caucuses, Mitt Romney turned his attention to President Barack Obama, criticizing him about unemployment, religious freedom, and military spending.

"This president began his presidency by apologizing for America," Romney said. "He should now be apologizing to America."

"I will not just slow the growth of government. I will cut it," he continued. "I will not just freeze the government's share of the economy. I will reduce it."

Just 16,486 voters turned out for the caucuses, but Romney took 50 percent of the vote. Newt Gingrich was in second place with 21 percent, Ron Paul in third with 19 percent, and Rick Santorum received 10 percent.

Republican women get their own super PAC

A new group is forming two political action committees to provide funds in support of Republican women. ShePAC (which stands for "Support, Honor, and Elect") will be co-chaired by Tea Party organizer and Smart Girl Politics founder Teri Christoph and former New Orleans Republican city councilwoman and Project GOPink founder Suzanne Haik Terrell; Time Crawford, who is in charge of GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's PAC, will be the treasurer. The group filed paperwork with the Federal election committee on Tuesday; they say that they hope to raise $25 million this year.

Gingrich drops bid to get on Virginia ballot

GOP presidential candidate and former House speaker Newt Gingrich has given up his legal fight for a spot on the Republican presidential primary ballot in Virginia. In January, a judge ruled that Gingrich, Huntsman, Perry, and Rick Santorum all failed to submit the 10,000 valid signatures required to get on the ballot. Perry and Huntsman have since dropped out of the race.

Copyright © 2012 Yahoo Inc.




Also on Shine:

Why getting kids involved in politics is important
Romney wins Florida, Colbert raises $1M, Obama holds an online "hangout"
Obama's State of the Union speech: What did you think?