GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum appears on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday.FLINT, Mich. – Republican Mitt Romney fought Saturday to prove he is the strongest challenger to President Barack Obama, an increasingly difficult task given the tight race in his native state of Michigan against surging conservative Rick Santorum.
In the final weekend of campaigning before Tuesday’s Michigan and Arizona primaries, Romney focused on central and southeast Michigan’s urban and industrial centers in hopes of pulling ahead of Santorum.
With a Michigan victory, Santorum could solidify his place as a real threat to Romney heading into Super Tuesday, the 10-state sweepstakes on March. Santorum’s victories so far have come in lower-turnout party caucuses.
While Romney kept most of his attention on the Democratic incumbent, he also worked to lay doubt about the core principles of his lightly funded main GOP rival.
Romney is the one facing stubborn doubts from some conservatives for his changed positions on social issues, but he tried to portray Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, as a Washington insider with cracks in his own conservative credentials. Santorum called such criticism “laughable” and said Michigan, where Romney was born and raised and his father was governor, was winnable.