Can Santorum Beat Romney to Win GOP Nomination?
Social conservative Rick Santorum's presidential campaign seems poised to contend with front-runner Mitt Romney in Michigan after losing to him in both the Maine primary and the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) weekend straw poll.
A Public Policy Polling (PPP) survey shows that the former Pennsylvania senator is gaining popularity among Michigan Republicans ahead of the Feb. 28 primary. The state GOP members favor Santorum by 39 percent. By comparison, Romney garnered 24 percent state GOP support, Ron Paul gained 12 percent support and Newt Gingrich trailed with 11 percent.
The Monday poll shows that a two-man race may be shaping up between Santorum and the former Massachusetts governor.
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After Santorum, the only other candidate who could challenge Romney is Gingrich. The former U.S. House speaker has 32 delegates compared to Romney's 98 and Santorum's 44. Texas Representative Paul has 20 delegates, according to news website Real Clear Politics.
The rivalry began in Iowa where Santorum secured a narrow win over the former governor. Romney was previously projected to be the victor of the first GOP contest of 2012.
The competition between the two seemed to fade away after Romney won primaries in New Hampshire, Florida and Nevada. Then Santorum revived the rivalry by winning races in Missouri, Colorado and Minnesota.
Romney evened the score Saturday by winning Maine and securing conservative support at CPAC.
However, the Santorum campaign raised $3 million in three days according to a Friday tweet from the campaign.
Additionally, Santorum garnered his first national lead in a Saturday PPP poll. The poll shows he has 38 percent support among Republicans. Romney earned 23 percent of GOP support by comparison.
Now, the PPP poll suggests he is poised to win the next race in Michigan.
Santorum told CNN's "State of the Union" that he is locked into a race against Romney and is "focused on making sure that folks know that we're the best alternative to Barack Obama."
The campaign still has its work cut out for it. The PPP poll is the only Michigan poll that puts Santorum ahead. Polls by Mitchell Research and Rasmussen put Romney as the likely victor. Also, 2 percent of those surveyed by PPP said they could change their minds in the next two weeks.
Two Arizona polls also show that Romney has the best chance to win the Arizona GOP primary –also set for Feb. 28. Additionally, many national polls, Gallup included, sill put Romney ahead nationally.
