Romney Wins In Pivotal Primaries [UPDATED]
[UPDATED Tuesday, Feb. 28 11:38 pm: In two Republican presidential primaries conducted Tuesday, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won pivotal victories.
Winning by a expectedly wide margin in Arizona, media attention focused on Romney's home state of Michigan where he edged out over Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. Romney delivered a rousing speech to supporters Tuesday night after playing the underdog in a state where his father served as Governor.]
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney campaigns in his home state of Michigan for the GOP primary Tuesday with confidence for a victory against opponent Rick Santorum.
Romney was born and raised in Michigan, and his father served as governor there. He remains hopeful that his ties to the state will gain him votes in Tuesday's election.
Romney has spent a week campaigning across the state, spending over $2 million on local television advertisements and hosting nearly a dozen events in order to avoid an embarrassing loss.
"I'm going to win in Michigan and I'm going to win across the country," said Romney at the Royal Oak Music Theatre on Monday.
Since Michigan was impacted severely by the recession, Romney used his business experience as a tool to gain voters and as a weapon to turn voters against his opponent.
Romney claimed Santorum was not prepared to deal with economic crises within the United States due to his lack of experience in the nation's private job sector, calling him an "economic lightweight" on Tuesday during his final pitches to voters.
Romney is positive the November election will come down to the economy, and argues that he is a better republican representative to take on President Obama over the issue. Romney claims Obama is also an "economic lightweight."
Despite Romney's confidence against Santorum, polls say the candidates were tied for front-runner in Michigan Tuesday morning. A loss in Tuesday's primary elections in either Michigan or Arizona will mark a major setback for Romney in his campaign as Santorum gains support across the nation with his recent three-state sweep.
Santorum contacted Michigan's democratic voters to participate in the election Tuesday, while Romney's tactic was to focus solely on gaining the support of the republicans.
"So we want to make sure to get republicans out to vote. We want this to be a process where republicans choose our republican nominee. We don't want the democrats to choose who they think is the easiest person to run against," said Romney on Tuesday.
Romney viewed Santorum's tactic of gaining Democratic support a "terrible, dirty trick."
But Santorum believes his campaigning is fair and square, claiming Romney had previously used similar tactics.
"So it’s OK when 53% of the voters in [New Hampshire] who are not republicans are encouraged to vote by Mitt Romney but when I reach out to Reagan democrats it isn't," said Santorum in an interview with Fox News' Laura Ingraham on Tuesday morning.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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