Rick Santorum Continues to Campaign in Show-Me State

(Osage Beach, MO) -- Rick Santorum doesn't simply want to repeat last month's Missouri primary success; he wants to win even bigger.

"We need to win big and decisively," Santorum said in a 'Rally for Rick' in OsageBeach Friday. "We need to show that that big win a month ago has not dissipated the energy and the enthusiasm."

That was Santorum's message to a crowd of several hundred supporters less than 24 hours before most Missouri counties are set to begin caucusing to choose their party's presidential nominee.

In an unusual year for Missouri electoral politics, Santorum has already won the Show-Me State -- it just didn't count. Political infighting between the Republican National Committee and Missouri state senators resulted in the state having two separate contests this year. But Saturday's caucus is the one that will actually award delegates and have an impact on who wins the nomination.

Santorum handily beat rival GOP candidates Mitt Romney and Ron Paul with 55.2 percent of the vote, winning ever single Missouri county. It was part of a trio of wins along with victories in Colorado and Minnesota that helped propel the former Pennsylvania senator ahead of Newt Gingrich, positioning Santorum as the biggest challenger to Romney, who leads in the overall delegate count. Newt Gingrich does not appear on the Missouri ballot.

Santorum's popularity in Missouri, as it has been throughout other parts of the country, has come from more rural parts of the state. Religious, conservative voters have flocked to Santorum as they continue to question Romney's credentials as a conservative.

Santorum's hour-long stump speech Friday swung back and forth between attacks against Romney and President Barack Obama. Santorum said Romney's history of changing his stance on abortion rights and instituting a statewide healthcare system as governor of Massachusetts would make it hard to take him seriously as a conservative alternative to the current president.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we don't need somebody who had convenient conversions experiences on a whole host of issues," Santorum said of Romney.

Happily taking up his charge as a conservative culture warrior, Santorum also pointed out that in primary races so far, most of Romney's support has come from the urban and suburban areas that tend to vote Democratic in the general election. A reference to the politics of New York and Los Angeles drew boos from the crowd.

Santorum linked his candidacy to the successes of the Tea Party movement and the Republican victories in the 2010 Midterm elections. And many of his supporters happily identify or sympathize with the Tea Party positions.

"I'm looking for change for our country, someone who really believes in our country and what our founding father's brought," said Steve Smith, a Santorum supporter from Jefferson City who came to see the candidate speak. "The more you study our constitution, the more you see our background, the you more realize how far off we've come away."

Although Santorum hopes to expand on last month's win, some Missouri GOP strategists think that's unlikely. James Harris, a GOP strategist from Jefferson City, said he expects Santorum to ultimately win the state but that Paul and Romney may make up some ground.

"I think you'll see a strong showing from the conservative base of the party who clearly Rick Santorum appeals too," Harris said. "But I think by the nature of the caucus system you'll see Ron Paul and Mitt Romney make up some ground and finish better than they did last month."

Santorum will go to Illinois for two appearances Friday evening. But he is back across the state line in Missouri again Saturday, as Republicans participate in the caucus system.

He will be in Chesterfield and nearby Wildwood, Missouri for two "meet and greet" events.

Previous Report: Rick Santorum Tells Springfield, MO Crowd to Vote for Their Values