ALLEN, Texas — One day after Rick Santorum’s startling breakthrough in the presidential race, his few aides decamped to distant states to start building campaign organizations from scratch. It was evidence of his challenge in converting sudden momentum into victories in the rush of contests ahead.
“We definitely are the campaign right now with the momentum, the enthusiasm on the ground,” the former Pennsylvania senator said Wednesday, hours after capturing Republican caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado and a nonbinding primary in Missouri.
“We feel like going forward we’re going to have the money we need to make the case we want.”
To replenish his coffers, Mr. Santorum arranged a weekend of fundraising events in California. He plans to start campaigning in Washington state on Monday, and then Ohio and Michigan in the following days, and will address the CPAC gathering of conservatives in Washington on Friday.
At the same time, aides conceded he was making little or no effort in the caucuses in Maine that end this weekend, and they are still working on plans for competing in primaries in Michigan and Arizona on Feb. 28, as well as the delegate-rich, 10-state Super Tuesday a week later.
Mr. Santorum’s caucus successes vaulted him ahead of Newt Gingrich into second place in the competition for Republican National Convention delegates. The Associated Press count showed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leading with 107 delegates, followed by Mr. Santorum with 69, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich with 32 and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas with nine.
“I believe that conservatives are beginning to get it, that we provide the best opportunity to beat President Obama,” Mr. Santorum said, a jab at both Mr. Romney and Mr. Gingrich.
Yet he came under fresh attack during the day from Mr. Romney as a supporter of earmarked federal spending, and a resumption appeared likely soon in the ad wars that so far have worked to the advantage of the better-financed former Massachusetts governor.
While Mr. Santorum plotted his next moves, Mr. Romney spoke with reporters in Atlanta, where he said he expects to do better in future contests in winning the votes of conservatives who delivered Mr. Santorum his triumphs on Tuesday night.
Mr. Romney said the tea party movement was created to fight Washington insiders who spend too much. Mr. Santorum and Mr. Gingrich “are the very Republicans who acted like Democrats” when it came to spending in Congress, he said.
For his part, Mr. Paul hoped for a breakthrough of his own in Maine, and Mr. Gingrich campaigned for a second straight day in Ohio, one of the Super Tuesday states that vote March 6.
Taking note of Mr. Santorum’s triumphs on Wednesday, Mr. Gingrich said the party could convene next summer without any candidate in control, the first time that would have happened since 1940.
Maine’s Republican Party is set to announce the victor Saturday night of the GOP contest. Local Republican Party committees have spent the last week holding caucuses in schools, town halls and fire stations up and down the state.
It’s the first step toward electing Maine’s 24 delegates to the GOP convention. The outcome could give bragging rights to the victor as well as a slight uptick in delegates.
Maine’s GOP chairman, Charles Webster, says there are pockets of support for all the candidates but predicts that the race will come down to Mr. Romney and Mr. Paul.
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