Maybe we might actually have a meaningful Super Tuesday after all?

Republican presidential contender Rick Santorum claimed a surge of momentum and fundraising on Wednesday, a day after his shocking sweep of nominating contests in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri that dealt a blow to front-runner Mitt Romney.

Even though Romney holds strong advantages in financing and organization, his campaign will have to refocus to fight the challenge from Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania known for his socially conservative views.

“We definitely are the campaign with the momentum, the enthusiasm on the ground,” Santorum said on CNN.

For Romney, Tuesday’s results included losses in two states – Colorado and Minnesota – that he won in his unsuccessful 2008 presidential campaign. Minnesota also became the first state where Romney did not end up in first or second place.

The startling results raised fresh doubts about whether Romney, a wealthy former private equity executive and former Massachusetts governor, can extend his support from the party establishment to win over a broad swath of Republican voters.

Santorum has now finished first in four of the first eight primaries and caucuses, after his narrow victory over Romney in Iowa’s caucuses on January 3.

I never really considered Rick Santorum because I didn’t think he really wanted to be president. I also never thought he would get this far. I suspected he was raising his profile for another Senate run or to get a seat at the table in a Republican White House. I think it’s safe to say that his message is resonating in various parts of the country. At the very least we have a competitive race. I wouldn’t count Newt Gingrich out at this point but he is fading fast. Romney got him off his game almost too easily and Newt is now paying the price. It will be interesting to see how Rick Santorum can capitalize on this momentum.