newt gingrich wasn t even on the ballot there. santorum cruised in his home state of minnesota. ron paul finishing second. santorum clearly seizing the momentum he desperately needs. ladies and gentlemen, i don t stand here to claim to be the conservative alternative to mitt romney, i stand here to be the conservative alternative to barack obama. well, cnn political editor paul steinhauser is live in washington. paul, what do you think, a game changer? reporter: wow. if you don t like the way the race for the republican nomination is going, wait. it keeps changing. mitt romney is still the front-runner but this is a big deal for rick santorum. what is he doing? he s going to be capitalizing and monopolizing, this hat trick of victories. he s down in texas today. that s where he heads. he s got some events. the real reason, he s going to want to raise some money, fundraising immediately off of this. take a listen to what he told soledad o brien on cnn. we re doing very