Rick Santorum: Mitt Romney Can't Stand Up Against President Obama

Campaigning at various St. Louis area caucus sites Saturday, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum told Missourians he's counting on them keep the Midwest red.

Midwest Make or Break

Santorum made a brief stop in the at the that was hosted at .

“You folks spoke loudly and clearly that you want a conservative in this race,” he said while adorning a green carnation for St. Patrick’s Day. “I would not be standing here today at these caucuses had the people of Missouri not spoken so loudly at your primary.”

Santorum discussed three key issues: needing Missouri's support to keep his Midwest winning streak going, Obama's lack of respect for American freedom including his record on domestic oil drilling and Mitt Romney.

"If you look at the Midwest, all of the Midwest is one color," he said. "It's our color.

"We've won every state in the Midwest."

Santorum urged the crowd to keep his campaign's progress moving forward.

"Let's keep that going in the state of Illinois, obviously we need to keep that going here with the delegate selection here in Missouri," he said.

But Santorum, who won Missouri’s nonbonding primary on Feb. 7 with a 55 percent showing, may have forgotten about Ohio and Michigan―two states considered part of the Midwest that Santorum lost to Romney.

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President Obama and Freedom

When it comes to President Obama, Santorum essentially said the current administration is not respecting American freedom and has a skewed view on foreign policy.

"We should never have a President that apologizes for America all around the world," he said. "We need a President who is proud of America."

Santorum also questioned President Obama's decisions on domestic oil drilling, which he said he did little of, and health care reform.

"Energy prices here are high because we have a president who is not allowing us to drill for oil," he said. "Whether it's on federal lands or on the private sector lands, he's trying to regulate and stop a lot of this production."

Although according to a report released March 12 imported oil is decreasing during President Obama's administration. Only 45 percent of US petroleum is imported, down from 57 percent in 2008, according to the report.

Fit to Compete

To drive his comments home, Santorum made sure to let his supporters know that he's the only fit candidate to stand up against Obama. He added that Romney may have enough funds to out campaign the Republican candidates, but when it comes to Obama, his record and funds will never match up.

"With one of the key issue today, the energy crisis, we have one candidate that can say we've been for oil exploration," Santorum said. "We can go after the President. The other candidates can't do that. President Obama can turn it around on them."

Responding quickly, Romney's communications director Gail Gitcho issued a statement, along with a video on his site showing Santorum supporting Romney in 2008.

“In a spectacular display of desperation ahead of the Illinois primary, Rick Santorum has once again shown a complete disregard for the truth," she said. "He wasn’t always this angry, of course. Back in 2008, Rick Santorum promoted Mitt Romney’s conservative credentials when he endorsed his candidacy for president."