News 12 at 11 O'Clock / Wednesday, February 8, 2012

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The race for the Republican presidential nomination is wide open after Rick Santorum swept three primaries Tuesday.

"No one ever thinks that I could ever win anything," Santorum said.

But he won Minnesota, Missouri, and Colorado all in one night.

"I don't know that anyone would have predicted that Santorum would have taken all three of those races last night," Bob Finnegan said. He's the chairman of Richmond County's Republican Committee.

With the sweep, Santorum, with 69 delegates is in second place to Mitt Romney's 107. Some say Tuesday's primaries were a wake up call to the former Massachusetts governor.

"I think he probably is aware now of the more conservative groups that are out there that he has to start maybe speaking more to them," Finnegan explained how Romney's campaign may change.

Former Speaker Gingrich is in third with 32 delegates. After winning South Carolina, many expected Newt Gingrich to do very well in the South.

"I think he has a legitimate chance [to sweep the South]," Finnegan said. "I think he's probably going to have to work a little bit harder because Santorum is going to be working harder to bring his conservative message."

Ron Paul, who has yet to win a primary, finished second in Minnesota, making it even less clear who will face President Obama in November.

"I don't know about [a division in the party]," Finnegan said. " The way I try to look at it is that we've got four very strong candidates. It's a horse race right now."

It's a horse race that passes through Georgia, along with nine other states on March 6th, Super Tuesday.

"We're not a winner take all state anymore," Finnegan explained, "but I still think we're going to play very heavily in what happens after that."