With a week to go until Republicans hit the polls in primaries in Arizona and Michigan, the two leading candidates for the GOPs presidential nomination -- former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania focused Monday on the Great Lakes State.
While his father served as governor of Michigan during the 1960s and he beat John McCain to win the primary in 2008, Romney currently trails Santorum there, according to most polls, but there are signs that he is regaining his footing.
A poll from Public Policy Polling, a firm with connections to prominent Democrats, taken over the weekend, found Santorum leads in Michigan with 37 percent, followed by Romney with 33 percent. Texas U.S. Rep. Ron Paul is in third with 15 percent followed by former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich with 10 percent. The poll of 602 likely Michigan Republican primary voters was taken Feb. 17-19 and had a margin of error of +/- 4 percent.
A PPP poll released last week found Santorum crushing Romney in Michigan, routing the former Massachusetts governor by 15 percent.
Rick Santorum continues to have the lead in Michigan, but momentum is now on Mitt Romneys side, insisted Dean Debnam, PPP president. Romneys supporters are also more committed than Santorums, so theres reason to believe this could get even closer in the final week of the campaign.
A poll from We Ask America released on Monday finds the two leading Republican candidates for the GOP presidential nomination dead even in Michigan.
The poll of likely primary voters finds Santorum and Romney each taking 29 percent. The rest of the field is far back with Paul in third with 12 percent and Gingrich taking 10 percent. Twenty percent of those surveyed are undecided.
The poll of 1,025 likely Michigan Republican primary voters was taken on Feb. 19 and had a margin of error of +/- 3.06 percent.
The Romney team looked to build momentum on Monday by attacking Santorum.
Mitt Romney spent his career in the private sector as a chief executive, where he helped create jobs and turn around major enterprises, said Ryan Williams, a spokesman for Romney. Congressman/Senator Rick Santorum, on the other hand, has spent his career in Washington. Rick Santorum is part of the problem, so he cant be part of the solution.
Williams followed up with another statement on Monday morning trying to undermine Santorums conservative credentials.
Congressman-turned-Senator Santorum spent a long time in Washington, where he cast votes that defy explanation," Williams said. "For example, Senator Santorum voted against creating the E-Verify system, but voted for Sonia Sotomayors circuit-court nomination. If Congress is part of the problem, Senator Santorum isnt part of the solution.
Santorum campaigned in Ohio --which holds its primary on March 6 --and Michigan on Monday. He was scheduled to speak at the Kent County GOP Lincoln Day dinner in Grand Rapids on Monday night before heading out to Arizona which, like Michigan, holds its primary on Feb. 28.
Looking at industrial states like Ohio and Michigan, Santorum ripped into President Barack Obama on Monday, responding to the Democrat incumbents calls for more manufacturing jobs in America.
"It was ironic that President Obama would make his call to renew American manufacturing from a Boeing plant, considering his administration's moves to keep Boeing from expanding and creating thousands of jobs in South Carolina, Santorum said in a statement on Monday. Time and time again, this president has crushed American industry by doing the bidding of his cronies in Big Labor and adhering to the agenda of the radical environmental left. In fact, President Obama has effectively placed a boot on the neck of American industry with his environmental regulations and taxes that make us less competitive with the rest of the world.
We need a president who understands that the private sector creates jobs, not the government," Santorum added. We need to encourage manufacturing -- which is exactly why my economic plan focuses on that sector of our economy. But I take a far different approach than President Obama -- I focus on empowering business from the bottom up, not the government-knows-best top-down approach. We need to free American enterprise, America's entrepreneurial spirit, and American industry to grow; and this president is doing the exact opposite."
Santorum also unveiled the endorsement of the Susan B. Anthony List, a pro-life group with more than 365,000 members, on Monday.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
