Arizona finally gets GOP candidates' attention

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MESA, Ariz. — Rick Santorum is looking for another upset or two, while Mitt Romney is hoping to keep his leading rival at bay in the run-up to the 20th debate of the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't think I could do well," the former Pennsylvania senator told supporters Tuesday after arriving ahead of any of his rivals for pre-debate campaigning in Arizona, a state long assumed safe for Romney.

Arizona and Michigan hold primaries on Feb. 28, but until recently, at least, the similarities seemed to end there.

Polls have long shown Romney with a solid lead in Arizona, where the 29 delegates at stake are reserved for the top vote-getter. As a result, neither he, Santorum, Newt Gingrich nor Ron Paul has devoted much time to the state.

A surging Santorum is running even with Mitt Romney atop the Republican presidential field, but neither candidate is faring well against President Barack Obama eight months before Americans vote, a new survey shows.

Meantime, an Associated Press-GfK poll shows that Obama tops 50 percent support when matched against each of the four GOP candidates and holds a significant lead over each of them.

In Arizona, television ads have been scarce. None of the candidates has run commercials, and Restore Our Future, an outside group that has played a major role in Romney's success so far in the campaign, is the only organization to pay for ads.

In Michigan, by contrast, Romney's lead in public and private surveys began eroding earlier this month after Santorum won upset victories in caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado and a non-binding primary in Missouri on a single night. Now Romney, the one-time, front-runner, campaigns as though he is behind.

Not surprisingly, Romney, Santorum and their allies have poured money into television ads in Michigan — about $5 million combined, with additions made Tuesday for the race's final week.

Romney intends to go to Daytona Beach, Fla. on Sunday for the Daytona 500 race. But he cancelled a fundraiser without explanation at a time his campaign appears to be spending more than it is taking in. The millionaire businessman has not yet written a personal check to his campaign, according to spokeswoman Gail Gitcho.