[This article has been updated to reflect new results.]

As of a little after 1:00 AM Eastern Time, Rick Santorum has a been projected to win in Minnesota, Missouri, and, most importantly, Colorado, a state where no one predicted he would do especially well. Romney was widely believed to have the state wrapped up.

It would seem that the night should belong to Santorum, but Tuesday's surprising results are already being characterized by some in the punditry as more of a Romney loss. Donna Brazile perhaps summed up things best on CNN when she of Romney, "It was not his best night in terms of, you know, winning." Oh, Donna. Even had Romney managed to eke it out in Colorado, he would have fallen well short of expectations. Expectations, of course, are phony numbers people come up with before elections so they have something to talk about afterwards.

Santorum's wins tonight will strengthen his argument that he, and not Gingrich, should be the main candidate to go head-to-head with Romney in a fight for the Republican nomination. Gingrich, however, is not likely to cede any ground because he is a grumpy, grumpy gummy bear.

It is important to note, as we did earlier, that no delegates for the GOP nomination will actually be awarded tonight. Nonetheless, we're about to start hearing a lot more about Rick Santorum over the next few weeks. Does this mean he has a genuine shot at winning the nomination? Maybe not. But Romney and Gingrich are going to be really upset, so it's a win for the rest of us.

[Image via AP]