Monday, February 13, 2012
A day after Mitt Romney regained some momentum in the Republican presidential contest, his rival Rick Santorum went on the attack, calling the front-runner "desperate" while promising to compete aggressively to win the state where Romney grew up.
Santorum said yesterday he could do "exceptionally well" in Michigan, where Romney’s father served as governor. Both Michigan and Arizona host Republican presidential nominating contests on Feb 28.
"We’re going to spend a lot of time in Michigan and Arizona, and those are up next. And that’s where we’ve really been focusing on," Santorum told ABC’s This Week. He suggested that a strong showing in those contests would make the presidential contest "a two-man race," dismissing his current rivals Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul.
Santorum shrugged off his third-place finish Saturday in caucuses in Maine, where he didn’t actively compete, as well as his second-place finish in a straw poll of conservative activists.
Romney has been painting Santorum as a long-time Washington insider who pursued home-state projects. Santorum on Sunday described Romney’s recent criticism as "desperate."
"You reach a point where desperate people do desperate things," said Santorum, who represented Pennsylvania during his 16 years in Congress, first in the House and then in the Senate.
Maine Republican officials declared Romney the winner of Saturday’s caucuses. The results ended a three-state losing streak to Santorum, who swept contests in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri on Tuesday.
With the next primaries more than two weeks away, the break seems unusually long in the rapid-fire race. Romney and his rivals now have 17 days to raise cash and bolster their organisations for what is shaping up to be a slog to the Republican nomination and the right to face President Barack Obama in November.
As Santorum eyes Michigan, Romney turns his attention to extending the huge cash advantage he has over his rivals.
The Massachusetts governor left Maine before the caucus results were announced to attend a fundraiser Saturday night. He issued a written statement to mark his victory in the low-turnout contest.
"I’m heartened to have the support of so many good people in this great state," Romney said in the statement. "The voters of Maine have sent a clear message that it is past time to send an outsider to the White House."
Romney is expected to spend much of next week courting donors, while sprinkling in a handful of campaign events. He’ll be in Arizona Monday evening.
Romney won a plurality of the Maine vote just hours after winning the presidential straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Committee conference in Washington.
But questions about Romney’s durability persist. Sixty one percent of Maine voters selected a candidate other than Massachusetts’ former governor, essentially in his own backyard. And Romney’s showing was down considerably from 2008, when he won 51% of the vote.
Romney has focused more on social issues in recent days. He has been particularly aggressive in criticising Obama’s recent decision regarding contraception.
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