Romney, Santorum hunt for Super Tuesday votes in Ohio

Rivals Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum made their final pitch for support in the vital battleground state of Ohio on Monday, the day before 10 states hold Super Tuesday nominating contests that could be pivotal in an unpredictable Republican presidential race.

Romney has been gaining on Santorum in polls in Ohio all week, erasing a double-digit lead for the former senator from Pennsylvania. Two new surveys on Monday showed a tight race: one gave Romney a slight edge, another had Santorum with a small lead.

Ohio is the largest battleground and most closely watched prize of the 10 contests on Super Tuesday, the biggest day of voting in the Republican race to find a challenger to US President Barack Obama in the Nov. 6 election.

Santorum, at a rally in Dayton and in a later conference call with reporters, kept up attacks on Romney for backing an individual mandate to purchase insurance in the Massachusetts healthcare plan, a precursor of Obama's federal overhaul.

Santorum said Romney's support for the mandate when he was governor of Massachusetts and in a 2009 USA Today column "forfeits the biggest issue in this campaign" against Obama and was evidence of why he could not win the support of conservatives.

"What you have with Governor Romney is someone who is simply not the genuine article. He's not someone you can trust on the issue of big government," Santorum told reporters.

Romney, who backs a repeal of the federal law, has said he supported the mandate in Massachusetts but did not believe the federal government should dictate a one-size-fits-all approach to states on healthecare.

At a morning stop in Canton in industrial northwest Ohio, the former head of private equity firm donned a hard-hat to tour a factory. At a later stop in Youngstown, Romney pledged to focus his presidency on economic recovery.

He also took a shot at Santorum and his days in the Senate.

"We need to have a president who understands the economy if we're going to fix the economy. And my understanding of the economy and jobs did not come by reading about it or debating it in a subcommittee meeting," Romney said. "My experience in the economy actually came by living in the economy."

Romney is riding a burst of momentum into the contests from a five-state winning streak capped by victories last week in Michigan, Arizona and Washington. A win in Ohio, a crucial state in the general election, would put him back in firm command of the race despite lingering doubts about him from conservatives.

A Santorum win in Ohio would turn the frequently shifting race upside down again. He also is aiming for victories in conservative Oklahoma and Tennessee.

Romney is favored in Vermont, Massachusetts and Virginia, where Texas Congressman Ron Paul was the only other candidate to qualify for the ballot. Paul is hoping to score his first win in Alaska.