Republican Presidential Candidate, 2012 Republican Presidential Candidate | featured news

A political group supporting Mitt Romney’s Republican presidential bid began airing television advertisements in Michigan today, charging that rival Rick Santorum is a “big spender” and “Washington insider” who backed letting convicted felons vote.

Rick Santorum is on the air in Michigan with positive campaign ads, including one saying he has the "best chance" against President Obama.

Once thought an easy win for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, the Michigan Republican primary is shaping up to be one of the biggest tests yet for Romney’s presidential hopes — and an unexpected opportunity for the surging campaign of former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum.

It appears that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney now has a Rick Santorum Internet-age problem. Searching for "Romney" using Google now yields a page defining the meaning of the term as "to defecate in terror" within the first five links or so.

Reversing his embarrassing string of setbacks earlier this week when he lost Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri to Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney eked out a narrow win in the straw poll tied to Maine's multiday caucuses Saturday, defeating Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who was the only other candidate to actively campaign in Maine.

In an effort to reverse a three-state losing streak, the Romney campaign announced that its candidate would put off his first trip home in 2012, and instead visit two caucus sites in Maine.

The Romney campaign's broadening of its attack this week to include Rick Santorum reflects some of the uncertainty surrounding votes Tuesday in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri -- the first multi-state election day of the campaign.

Despite his strong showing in early voting contests in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, Mitt Romney's support among Republicans nationwide has dipped slightly during the past month, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday.

Newt Gingrich "predicted during a press conference following Saturday's Nevada caucuses that he would emerge as the GOP front-runner again by the Texas primary," the Washington Post reports.

"The one problem with that: We have no idea when Texas will hold its primary. A spat over redistricting is likely to push it beyond its scheduled date, April 3."

Coasting to an easy victory over his GOP rivals in the Nevada caucuses, Mitt Romney keeps his focus on President Obama as the nominating contest moves to Minnesota, Colorado and Missouri. Mitt Romney spent years cultivating voters in Nevada, and it paid off with a commanding victory that not only pushed him closer to the GOP nomination but laid a strong marker in a state both parties will fight to carry in November.