Santorum plans aggressive strategy against Romney

PORTLAND, Maine (AP)

Rick Santorum is pursuing an aggressive strategy to challenge Mitt Romney in the state where the Republican presidential front-runner grew up.

Santorum said yesterday he could do "exceptionally well" in Michigan, where Romney's father served as governor. The midwestern state and Arizona host Republican presidential nominating contests on February 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 current rivals Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul.

Santorum shrugged off his third-place finish last 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. He described Romney's recent criticism as "desperate". Romney is painting Santorum as a long-time Washington insider who pursued home-state projects.

"You reach a point where desperate people do desperate things," said Santorum, who represented Pennsylvania during 16 years in Congress, first in the House and then in the Senate.

Maine state GOP officials declared Romney the winner of last Saturday's caucuses. Saturday's results ended a three-state losing streak to Santorum, who swept contests in Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri on Tuesday.

The break until the next primaries is unusually long in the rapid-fire race that's featured six contests in the last two weeks. Romney and his rivals now have 17 days to raise cash and bolster their organisations for what's shaping up to be a slog to the Republican nomination and the right to face President Barack Obama in November.