There are signs this week that Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is taking the fight to GOP rival Rick Santorum in his own backyard -- delegate-rich Pennsylvania. The Keystone State, which will bring 72 delegates to the Republican convention in Tampa come August, holds its primary on April 24 along with four other states in the region -- Connecticut, Delaware, New York and Rhode Island.
Santorum leads a Franklin and Marshall College poll of Pennsylvania Republicans that was unveiled on Wednesday, but Romney is within the margin of error. Santorum takes 30 percent with Romney right on his heels with 28 percent. Ron Paul stands in distant third with 9 percent, followed by Newt Gingrich with 6 percent.
A Franklin and Marshall poll of Pennsylvania taken in February found Santorum leading with 45 percent, followed by Romney with 16 percent. Gingrich had 9 percent and Paul, 6 percent.
The poll of 505 registered Pennsylvania Republicans was taken from March 20-25 and had a margin of error of +/- 4.2 percent.
Romney received a major endorsement in Pennsylvania on Tuesday when U.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., announced that he is backing the former Massachusetts governor for the Republican nomination. Like Santorum, who was defeated by current U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa,, Fitzpatrick lost his seat in 2006 but rebounded to reclaim it in the 2010 elections.
I have been overwhelmed by the strong support I have received in Pennsylvania, Romney said. Congressman Fitzpatrick shares my vision of cutting spending and getting Washington out of the way of the private sector. With his help and the hard work of those supporting me in Pennsylvania, we can defeat President Obama and turn around the country.
It is time for Republicans to unite behind the one candidate who can defeat President Obama and end the failed policies of the last three years, said Fitzpatrick before offering some words of praise for Santorum. Like many of my colleagues, I know Senator Santorum and respect the work he did for Pennsylvania but I am strongly supporting Mitt Romney. Pennsylvania and the rest of the country cant afford four more years of President Obamas failed policies and it is important that we nominate a proven conservative like Mitt Romney to face President Obama. I urge my fellow Pennsylvanians to support Mitt Romney and look forward to working with him in the weeks before the primary and to defeat President Obama in November.
Earlier in the month, Romney unveiled the support of former Gov. Tom Ridge, who had supported Jon Huntsman earlier in the primary contest and three Republican congressmen from Pennsylvania: Charlie Dent, Jim Gerlach and Bill Shuster.
The Santorum camp continued this week to insist they still have momentum in the Keystone State and pointed to the results of the Pennsylvania Leadership Conference straw poll over the weekend where Santorum ran off with the win with 323 votes, Romney with 147 votes, Ron Paul with 50 votes and Newt Gingrich with 35 votes.
Hogan Gidley, a spokesman for Santorum, weighed in on the straw poll results on Tuesday afternoon.
"While Mitt Romney continues to claim he's the inevitable candidate, and his team says those who don't support Romney are insignificant, America's voters continue to pick Rick Santorum as the candidate they trust to stand up for our freedom and advance a pro-growth, pro-family agenda to revitalize our nation, Gidley said. Voters in Pennsylvania and across the country are sending a clear message that they don't want another Etch A Sketch politician who has spent his entire career promoting big-government top-down solutions. Rick Santorum is the only candidate who believes in the American people and will stand up for freedom no matter which way the political wind is blowing."
A poll released on Wednesday from Quinnpiac University finds that Pennsylvania could be a close state in November with Barack Obama, while currently ahead, remaining vulnerable. The Keystone State, which now has 20 votes in the Electoral College, has backed Democrats in every presidential election since 1992. In 2008, Obama beat John McCain there by 11 percent.
Obama is currently upside down in the Keystone Stone. The poll shows that 50 percent of those surveyed disapprove of Obamas performance in office, while 45 approve of the job he has done. When asked if Obama deserves four more years in the White House, similar results were produced, with 50 percent saying he does not while 46 believe he does.
Despite these numbers, Obama leads the two leading Republican candidates in Pennsylvania. While Santorum has been in Pennsylvania politics for more than two decades, Romney does better when matched up against the Democrat incumbent -- with Obama taking 45 percent and Romney right behind him with 42 percent. Obama does better against Santorum, taking 48 percent to 41 percent.
"Although he is a native son, Rick Santorum runs worse against Obama in Pennsylvania than does Mitt Romney," said Peter Brown, the assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "The former U.S. senator also is liked the least."
The poll of 1,232 registered Pennsylvania voters was taken from March 20-26 and had a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percent.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
