Gingrich mostly skipped the three-state race, focusing instead on Ohio and its vote on Super Tuesday, March 6.

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A subdued Romney congratulated Santorum and said he'd press on.

"This was a good night for Rick Santorum," Romney told supporters in Denver on Tuesday. He offered a bit of forced optimism: "We'll keep on campaigning down the road, but I expect to become our nominee with your help." Romney added, "When this primary season is over, we're going to stand united as a party behind our nominee to defeat Barack Obama."

In Washington, Republican senators tried to change the subject back to the controversy over the Obama administration's directive requiring church-affiliated employers to cover birth control for their employees regardless of the institutions' religious beliefs.

The senators, some of whom have endorsed Romney, only acknowledged the Republican nomination fight when asked. And then, not in particularly revealing terms.

Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, who is in charge of Romney's campaign for congressional and other endorsements, noted that Romney didn't spend much, if any, money or time on that state's contest, while Santorum did.

What should Romney do going forward? "I think it's a serious process and they should take it all seriously," Blunt said.

Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, where Romney trounced his competitors Jan. 31, congratulated Santorum but deflected questions about the results and their meaning.

"I just have not had a lot of time to do political analysis," he said.

Santorum cast the results as a victory for a purer form of conservatism than Romney has offered, heard more clearly by voters across the nation's midsection without a deafening TV air war that Romney has dominated.

The former Pennsylvania senator said in a nationally broadcast interview Wednesday that he thinks conservative Republicans "are beginning to get" that he represents the party's best chance to oust Obama. He also ripped into Romney's compromises on health care, economic bailouts and cap and trade and mocking Romney's attempt to be seen as the political outsider in 2012.

"Gov. Romney, Mr. Outsider, was for government takeover in health care, was for government takeover of the private sector of the Wall street bailout and was for the government takeover of industry and energy with the cap and trade," Santorum said on CNN. "So Mr. Private Sector was Mr. Big Government when he was out there running for the private sector."

In the glow of victory, he looked past Romney to the general election. As the Republicans fight, Obama watches from his perch in the White House - and waits.

"I don't stand here to be the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney, I stand here to be the conservative alternative to Barack Obama," Santorum said Tuesday night. Romney wasn't the only loser.

On the first day of multistate voting, the trio of contests exposed a glaring deficiency for Gingrich.

The former House speaker lacked the resources and organization to compete just as he's trying to project strength heading into Super Tuesday.

He made only minimal efforts in the three states that voted Tuesday and stayed out of sight as the results rolled in.

Gingrich is focusing on Ohio, where early voting for the March 6 primary has begun.

To be fair, Tuesday's contests will have little bearing on the race for delegates.

Missouri's nonbinding primary in particular was little more than an extensive warm-up routine.

The state will hold an official caucus in March. But even symbolic victories can produce or slow momentum. Romney's camp began downplaying the results hours before the voting began.

Rich Beeson, his political director, released a memo earlier in the day noting that even McCain lost 19 states on the way to capturing the nomination in 2008. Following Maine's low-profile caucuses, which conclude Saturday, the candidates will have an extended 17-day lull.