Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum won the Freeborn County Republican Party caucuses Tuesday, garnering 40 percent of the vote and leaving the other three candidates in the dust comparatively.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney took second 64 votes, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich third with 49 and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas with 41.

Freeborn County Republican Party Chairman Al Arends said Santorum has spent more time in Minnesota. He said Santorum is the most conservative of the four candidates and speaks often on social issues.

“He’s worked harder here,” Arends said.

It was a big night for Santorum. He won the Minnesota caucuses and won the primary elections in Missouri and Colorado. He staged a comeback after lagging since his victory in Iowa and made front-runner Romney’s campaign appear to sputter.

Freeborn County Republicans gathered at Southwest Middle School in Albert Lea. They elected precinct officers and picked delegates for the Feb. 25 county convention.

House District 27A Rep. Rich Murray stopped to speak to caucus-goers. Republicans of Ward 1 of Albert Lea met at the school library. Murray asked them for a show of hands of people who favor public money for a professional football stadium. No one raised a hand. Then he asked if they would favor using public money to give a loan that the Minnesota Vikings would pay back. Many hands went up.

He mentioned how the state traditionally has supported arts and entertainment and said he knows how Vikings football is woven into Minnesota life.

“To some people,” he said, “the Vikings are their arts and entertainment.”

Murray said he disliked legislating through constitutional amendments. It pushes the role of passing laws onto the people, instead of legislators.

“We were elected to do our jobs,” he said.

Murray said Minnesota will see big dollars spent to produce TV advertisements regarding an amendment to ban same-sex marriage.

At the Ward 1 caucus, the largest one, letters were read from Ron Paul, a supporter with the Mitt Romney campaign and a brochure from the Santorum campaign.

Santorum topped the Ward 1 results with 22 votes. Romney garnered 18, Paul 7 and Gingrich 2.

Romney came out on top in Ward 2, with 12 votes. Gingrich had 6 and Paul and Santorum each had 5.

In Ward 3, Santorum received 17 votes, Gingrich 15, Romney 9 and Paul 3.

Gingrich won in Ward 4 with 13 votes. Santorum had 11, Romney 4 and Paul 2.

Wards 5 and 6 were combined. There, Santorum won with 9 votes, Romney 4 and Paul 3.

Republicans from every township and city in Freeborn County gathered to scribble names on pieces of paper. They were tallied and taken to a Freeborn County Republican Party table at the entrance to the school to be verified and added to the county total.

A handful of folks left before platform discussions began. The platform discussions are taken up at the county convention and possibly forwarded to the state convention.

At the Ward 1 caucus, Kathryn Ubl proposed a platform resolution regarding global warming. The resolution called for no law based on science by the United Nations or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration until they can “prove that carbon dioxide is a harmful poison to Earth’s environment.”

She said her resolution was fueled by reading a blog called democratsagainstunagenda21.com.
Before a vote was taken, Rachel Christensen stood and said environment issues are conservative issues. She said Republicans can’t let Democrats paint them as willing to destroy the environment.

“Everything about environmental protection isn’t wrong because it might cost a little more,” she said.

The resolution passed on a voice vote with two opposed and several abstaining.

No other resolutions were proposed in Ward 1 for the nine-plank Minnesota GOP platform.
Ward 1 resident April Jeppson found herself being nominated to several positions. Among them, she became the precinct chairwoman and one of 12 delegates going to the county convention.

Jeppson said she was pleased with the turnout Tuesday but wishes more would show up. She said she resided in Iowa City, Iowa, four years ago and experienced the large turnouts at the Iowa caucuses.

The Minnesota native said Minnesotans tend to be more reserved than Iowans.

“I feel like you should participate and do something to about it.”

Results

Freeborn County caucuses:
Candidate Votes Percent
Rick Santorum 105 40.5
Mitt Romney 64 24.7
Newt Gingrich 49 18.9
Ron Paul 41 15.8
Total votes 259