{mosads}”He’s the only candidate who has put forward a bold, pro-growth plan to grow this economy,” Cantor said. “That’s the central issue of this election; people want to see a better economic future, and Mitt Romney is the only man in the race who has actually had the experience to do it.”
But Santorum dismissed Romney’s plan as “timid” and lacking in bold ideas. The former Pennsylvania senator also hit the presumptive Republican front-runner for a recently rediscovered op-ed piece from 2009 in which Romney told President Obama he could “learn a thing or two” from the Massachusetts healthcare plan’s individual mandate.
“Now with the revelations that Gov. Romney not only put [universal healthcare] in place in Massachusetts but advocated for President Obama to use his model of an individual mandate at the federal level — again, we’re looking for the best candidate that can take on Barack Obama, and right now, on the issues, we believe we’re it,” Santorum said.
Romney’s campaign responded by insinuating that Santorum was trying to appeal to Democrats in questioning Cantor.
“Sen. Santorum’s base is Obama supporters. The last thing the White House wants is to have to face Mitt Romney in a general election, so Sen. Santorum is relying on them to throw the primary in his direction,” Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said. “Mitt Romney has won five contests in a row and won in every corner of the United States with Republican voters. It’s going to take a businessman who is not a creature of Washington to change the status quo.”
Santorum went on to say he was “very encouraged by what’s going on here in Ohio” and said his campaign was outperforming expectations, especially considering Romney’s superior fundraising.
“We’re being outspent about 6-to-1 again in just about every state we are. I mean, it’s remarkable we’re doing as well as we are, guys — we’re just getting pummeled with robocalls and direct mail and television advertising, and we’re hanging in there because we have a message and Gov. Romney doesn’t,” Santorum said.
He also dismissed concerns that he had not qualified for the ballot in Virginia and parts of Ohio, saying the number of delegates he would be unable to capture was a relatively small figure.
“We’re not this big behemoth of an organization that can spend endless amounts of money to get on ballots that early in the campaign. There were a couple we had trouble with — one was Virginia and another was here in Ohio,” Santorum said.
This article was last updated at 10:40 a.m.