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Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum swept the nominating contests in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado Tuesday night, putting him back in contention for the GOP nomination.

Santorum now has four victories under his belt in the GOP race, more than any other candidate. His new standing stalls Mitt Romney's earlier momentum and gives Santorum grounds to argue that he -- not Newt Gingrich -- is the best conservative alternative to Romney.

Speaking from his Missouri campaign headquarters in St. Charles Tuesday night, Santorum looked ahead to the general election.

"I don't stand here to claim to be the conservative alternative to Mitt Romney," he said. "I stand here to be the conservative alternative to Barack Obama."

Santorum said that during the nominating contest, "Gov. Romney's best attribute is, 'I've got the most money and the best organization.'" But in the general election, Santorum said, that won't be the case. With that in mind, he said Republicans need a candidate who can make "sharp contrasts" with the president.

With 3,653 of 4,137 precincts reporting in Minnesota, Santorum won 45 percent of the vote, with Rep. Ron Paul of Texas coming in second place with 27 percent. Romney earned 17 percent while Gingrich took 11 percent.

With all precincts reporting in Missouri, Santorum carried 55 percent of the vote, while Romney took 25 percent and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas took 12 percent. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich failed to get on the ballot in Missouri.

In Colorado, Santorum won 40 percent of the vote, while Romney won 35 percent. Gingrich won 13 percent, and Paul took 12 percent.

Read more at CBSNews.com.