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February 08, 2012 | | OUCH Rick Santorum won a stunning three-state victory last night, beating his rivals in the Minnesota and Colorado caucuses and in a nonbinding primary in Missouri. It's a blow to Mitt Romney, who appeared on a course to the nomination after victories in Florida and Nevada. (It's also bad news for Newt Gingrich, who now has won only one state to Santorum's four.) The Daily Beast’s Paul Begala asks: if Romney’s PAC outspent Santorum by 40–1, and he still lost to a guy who blew his own Senate race by 18 points, should he be looking for another party to run in? Plus, Howard Kurtz, Michelle Cottle, and John Avlon on what the new twist in the GOP race means. RUNNER-UP Last night was a good one for Rick Santorum, but Ron Paul also got a bump, beating out Mitt Romney to come in second place in Minnesota. Paul got 27 percent of the vote in Minnesota, 10 points more than Romney and better than Paul’s previous best of 22.9 percent in New Hampshire. It’s a much-needed boost after Paul’s disappointing third-place finish in the Nevada caucuses this weekend. “We had a very, very strong second place—and it’s going to continue,” he told supporters. ASSAULT So much for the Russian envoy. Bashar al-Assad’s forces redoubled their shelling of the Syrian city of Homs, killing at least 40 people, according to activists. Residents say it's the heaviest bombardment yet. The city has been shelled for five days straight. Yesterday the Russian foreign minister visited Damascus and received assurances from Assad that he would end the violence and begin talks. CNN reports that the U.S. military has begun reviewing its options in Syria, though the Pentagon stressed the plans are very preliminary, and U.S. officials say the U.S. remains focused on sanctions and diplomacy. NEPOTISM More than a dozen members of Congress send earmarks to organizations affiliated with members of their immediate family, according to a Washington Post investigation. Sen. Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) supported adding $4 million to the budget of a Pentagon childhood-education program that his wife, Barbara, was hired to evaluate and may have lobbied for. In all, 16 members of Congress sent tax dollars to companies, schools, and community groups where immediate family members worked. Some vetted their actions with congressional committees, but Congress isn't bound by as strict conflict-of-interest regulations as the executive branch or private companies. DÉJÀ VU Another day, another deadline postponed. After yesterday’s “crunch meeting” was postponed because of missing paperwork, Greece is meeting again in an attempt to agree on reform that would save the country from default. A party official said heads of several political parties had yet to receive drafts of the agreement with the IMF and EU before they were supposed to meet with Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, so the meeting was called off. Euro-zone officials say Greece must agree on a reform package—and have it approved by the European Central Bank and the IMF—by Feb. 15 if they are to avoid default. | | 
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