Santorum Campaigns in Detroit

Santorum is really starting to sound like a serious candidate:

Santorum, vying for an upset victory in the Michigan primary on Feb. 28, drew some contrasts with Romney, but they were muted and overshadowed by a broader effort to connect economic issues to the social conservatism that has become his calling card.

Santorum affirmed his opposition to President Obama’s bailout of the auto industry — an unpopular stance in Detroit — and said his position was “more consistent” than Romney’s because he also opposed the federal rescue of Wall Street.

In one swipe at his rival, he alluded to a CNN interview where Romney said he was “not concerned about the very poor.”
There’s “another candidate in this race who suggests he doesn’t care about the very poor, he cares about the 95 percent,” Santorum said.

“How about a candidate who cares about the 100 percent; who understands that without strong families and strong communities we are not going to be a successful country?”

Santorum referred to having completed his own tax returns and added, “Romney paid half the tax rate that I did, so obviously he doesn’t do his own taxes.”

Michigan could be a game-changer this year:

A win for Santorum in Michigan would be devastating for Romney, given the latter’s status as the national front-runner and his numerous advantages: Romney grew up there, his father was a popular governor, and he won the Republican primary in the state in 2008. As recently as the start of this month, two polls showed the former Massachusetts governor with a 15-percentage-point lead.

Rick also got some good messages out there:

During his Detroit speech, Santorum outlined his tax plan, which calls for manufacturing companies to be exempted from corporate taxes. He linked that proposal to Michigan’s blue-collar roots, arguing that the manufacturing sector deserves such a break because “you have to compete with many places around the world that want your jobs — and in many ways took your jobs.”

[snip]

Elsewhere, Santorum sought to connect the dots between economic troubles and a drift from conservative social values. He noted, for example, that poverty rates for single-parent families were exponentially higher than for two-parent families, despite the “heroic” efforts of single parents.

Later, calling for the revitalization of churches and other sources of localized community support, he said that “if there is a naked public square and you are out there paddling alone, government becomes your lifeboat.”

I’m still worried that he’s just another big-government conservative in the Bush mold, but that would still be an improvement over Obama, and I like him much better than the other two still in the race.