Today, for the first time this primary season, multiple states — Missouri, Minnesota, and Colorado — will hold their primary contests on the same date. It’s not quite next month’s Super Tuesday, in which ten states will vote, but it’s at least an Above Average Tuesday. And based on a very small amount of polling, it looks like Rick Santorum could come out of basically nowhere and win both Minnesota and Missouri, while Mitt Romney appears to be the favorite in Colorado. Newt Gingrich? So January.
Tonight could give Santorum a huge boost in his quest to be Romney’s leading Non-Threatening Yet Extremely Annoying Opponent. Except, absolutely no delegates — you know, those things you need to actually win the nomination — will be immediately awarded in tonight’s nonbinding caucuses. Missouri’s results don’t matter in any way. So what is really at stake on Barely Important Tuesday? Momentum! Sweet, sweet momentum.
You know, the momentum that helped Santorum so much after Iowa. The momentum that helped Mitt Romney so much after New Hampshire. The momentum that helped Newt Gingrich so much after South Carolina. That momentum. That’s what’s at stake on Mostly Insignificant Tuesday.
