While he has primarily focused his fire on Newt Gingrich instead of the other GOP candidates, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is starting to take aim at another target -- Rick Santorum.
Santorum is looking to upend front-runner Romney on Tuesday. The two of them are the only candidates on the ballot in Missouri which holds its primary on Tuesday.
A poll released on Sunday from Public Policy Polling (PPP), a pollster with connections to prominent Democrats, found Santorum leads in Minnesota, which also holds its primary on Sunday. Santorum takes 29 percent followed by Romney with 27 percent, Gingrich with 22 percent and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas with 19 percent. The poll of 410 likely Minnesota Republican primary voters was taken on Feb. 4 and had a margin of error of +/- 4.8 percent.
Noting that Romney led in Missouri and Colorado, Dean Debnam, the president of PPP, said the stakes were high on Tuesday for both the former Massachusetts governor and Santorum.
Tuesday has the potential to be a huge day for both Romney and Santorum, said Debnam. A sweep for Romney would do much to enhance the feeling that he's unstoppable. Wins for Santorum in Minnesota and Missouri would make it clear he's a more viable alternative to Romney than Gingrich and give him a lot of momentum for the road ahead. And it looks like it will be another dark day for Gingrich, whose campaign, it appears, peaked two weeks ago in South Carolina.
Romney went on the attack against Santorum in Minnesota on Monday, bringing out one of his chief supporters in the North Star State -- former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who was running for the Republican presidential nomination himself before dropping out in August after a disappointing showing in the Iowa Republican straw poll.
"Rick Santorum is a nice guy, but he is simply not ready to be president, Pawlenty said on Monday. Plus, he wants Minnesota conservatives to believe he's as conservative as they are, but he's not. As a U.S. senator, he was a leading earmarker and pork-barrel spender. He described himself as very proud of the billions of dollars in pork-barrel projects he championed, and promised to defend the wasteful spending. Even in the face of crushing federal debt, Rick Santorum voted for the infamous Bridge to Nowhere. That type of leadership will not help us rein in government and slash the unprecedented federal debt.
Pawlentys attack follows up harsh comments made by the Romney camp over the weekend.
Rick Santorum is part of the big-spending Washington establishment that ran up the national debt by trillions and stuck our grandchildren with the bill, said Andrea Saul, a spokesman for Romney, on Sunday. His ardent and passionate defense of earmarks is not something that fiscal conservatives are looking for in our next president. Mitt Romney supports a smaller, simpler, and smarter government that cuts spending and frees us from the debt and deficits that politicians like Rick Santorum have created.
The Santorum team fired back on Monday.
"If Governor Romney is confident running on his record and his vision for the future, he would, Hogan Gidley, Santorums communications director, said on Monday. But Governor Romney does what he always does and directs his well-funded attack machine to destroy the opponent. Mitt Romney's act is tired, old and wearing thin with voters, and I suspect at this point, with the media too. Romney never touts his own record -- because it's abysmal. In the Republican Party we have a name for someone who supports government health-care mandates, big bank bailouts, and radical cap-and-trade initiatives -- we call them Democrats. Rick Santorum is the only conservative candidate who is positioned to defeat Obama because he can credibly and effectively attack the president for supporting big government health-care mandates, government bailouts, and radical cap-and-trade initiatives. Mitt Romney can't attack Obama on any of those major issues because Governor Romney agrees with Obama on all of them -- and his attack and smear campaign is his way of avoiding his liberal record."
Gidley also took aim at Pawlenty, using the attacks he launched against Romney when the former Minnesota governor had been a presidential candidate.
"As Governor Tim Pawlenty so aptly said, Romneycare should be called Obamneycare. Everyone knows that Governor Romney's top down, government-run, mandated health insurance plan was the basis of Obamacare, Gidley said on Monday afternoon.
Oddly enough, the only accomplishment that Governor Romney points to and actually defends during his tenure as governor is the most liberal, the most intrusive and unconstitutional. In fact, the only area conservatives would appreciate Romney flip-flopping on would be Romneycare, added Gidley. So why he doubles down on this liberal accomplishment instead of just flip-flopping as usual is beyond me. We're all looking for Governor Romney to finally have firm conviction on something, but it's pretty telling that he picks Romneycare."
In the meantime, Santorum looked to solidify his standing with conservatives by trotting out the endorsements of a number of leading activists -- including Phyllis Schlafly, a veteran of the conservative movement, entertainer Pat Boone and blogger Ed Morrisey.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
