Mitt Romney describes Santorum's robo-calls as 'dirty tricks' and says he anticipates being the GOP nominee after long race
Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney described his main rival Rick Santorum as "desperate" for resorting to what he called dirty tricks in the Michigan primary, on the day voters flooded to the polls.
Romney, in his first press conference for three weeks, was unusually coy about predicting the result and instead opted to say he would win the race in the long run. "In the final analysis, I anticipate being the nominee," Romney said.
He predicted a protracted struggle. "This is not going to be over in a day or two," he said.
Polls suggest the outcome is to too close to call in a state that is crucial to the prospects of both men.
The Republican race would be thrown into chaos if Santorum, the dark horse at the start of the caucus and primary season, was to win.
It is a must-win state for Romney in the same way that he needed to win the Florida primary in January to block off a challenge from Newt Gingrich, who has since faded from the race.
Romney needs the victory in Michigan to stall Santorum but also to avoid the indignity of losing in the state where he was born and raised.
Romney had the initial advantage of having a good campaign organisation that has managed to get a lot of his support out in early voting. But Santorum is enjoying a late surge and attracting large crowds to his rallies.
Santorum, in an effort to bridge the gap with Romney, has resorted to robo-calls, pleading with Democrats to come out to vote against Romney because he had opposed Barack Obama's 2008 bailout of the car industry upon which Michigan depends.
Romney, at the press conference at his campaign headquarters in Livonia on Tuesday morning, denounced Santorum for his appeal to Democrats and said he had failed to mention that he too had opposed the bailout. Romney described it as the act of "a desperate candidate".
He added: "Republicans have to recognise there's a real effort to kidnap our primary process."
If Romney was to lose Michigan, the robo-calls offer him an opportunity to claim he won among Republicans but lost because of mischief by Democrats, encouraged by Santorum.
Romney rarely gives press conferences and this was the first for three weeks, finally giving in to appeals from a frustrated media pack.
It makes sense to give it on polling day, when it is just about too late for any gaffes to have an impact on the outcome of the primary.
Asked about the damage the in-fighting is doing to Republican chances in the November general election, a major concern in Republican ranks, Romney played it down, predicting it would be forgotten by then and people would be focused on other issues, such as the economy and maybe foreign policy.
On his inability to excite the Republican base, Romney made it clear he did not intend pandering to the party right any more than he has already. "It is very easy to excite the base with incendiary comments," he said, a remark that might not play well with right-wingers, suggesting they are easily led.
He went on to deliver the most memorable line from the press conference, aimed at Santorum and Gingrich. "We've seen throughout the campaign if you're willing to say really outrageous things that are accusative, attacking of president Obama, that you're going to jump up in the polls," he said.
"I'm not willing to light my hair on fire to try and get support. I am who I am."
He said there had been mistakes in his campaign, but blamed himself rather than his organisation. Asked what these mistakes had been, he declined to say, though he admitted that his comment on Friday about his wife owning two Cadillacs had been one.
The candidates are looking beyond Michigan to the 10 Super Tuesday states next week. Santorum is to visit Tennessee on Wednesday where he is ahead in a state that Gingrich covets. He is also ahead in Ohio, the big prize of Super Tuesday.
Gingrich is ahead in his home state Georgia.
Loss of these three states would be another setback for Romney, not compensated by his expected victories in Massachusetts, Vermont and Virginia, with neither Santorum or Gingrich on the ballot. He needs to be seen to be beating Santorum in head-to-head contests and that means Ohio.
The following week is not promising for Romney either, with contests in Mississippi and Alabama.
Ron Paul, the fourth candidate in the race, is competing in Virginia but polls show him trailing two-to-one to Romney.
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