FILE - In this Jan. 3, 2012, file photo Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, seen with his Karen, left, addresses supporters at his Iowa caucus victory party in Johnston, Iowa. GOP primary voters have spent the past six weeks lurching toward one candidate and then another in an exercise of political soul-searching that appears far from settled. The next contests, in Arizona and Michigan, aren't until Feb. 28; the party with a reputation for order may have it sorted out after March 6, when 10 states get their say. But that would break sharply with this race's tendency toward uncertainty. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 3, 2012, file photo Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, seen with his Karen, left, addresses supporters at his Iowa caucus victory party in Johnston, Iowa. GOP primary voters have spent the past six weeks lurching toward one candidate and then another in an exercise of political soul-searching that appears far from settled. The next contests, in Arizona and Michigan, aren't until Feb. 28; the party with a reputation for order may have it sorted out after March 6, when 10 states get their say. But that would break sharply with this race's tendency toward uncertainty. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney speaks at a caucus, Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012, in Portland, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, throws balloons from the stage after speaking to supporters following his loss in the Maine caucus to Mitt Romney, Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012, in Portland, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) ? Rick Santorum is pursuing an aggressive strategy to challenge Mitt Romney in the state where the Republican presidential front-runner grew up.
Santorum said Sunday he could do "exceptionally well" in Michigan, where Romney's father served as governor. The Midwestern state and Arizona host Republican presidential nominating contests on Feb. 28.
"We're going to spend a lot of time in Michigan and Arizona, and those are up next. And that's where we've really been focusing on," Santorum told ABC's "This Week." He suggested that a strong showing in those contests would make the presidential contest "a two-man race," dismissing current rivals Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul.
Santorum shrugged off his third-place finish Saturday in caucuses in Maine, where he didn't actively compete, as well as his second-place finish in a straw poll of conservative activists. He described Romney's recent criticism as "desperate." Romney is painting Santorum as a long-time Washington insider who pursued home-state projects.
"You reach a point where desperate people do desperate things," said Santorum, who represented Pennsylvania during 16 years in Congress, first in the House and then in the Senate.
Maine state GOP officials declared Romney the winner of Saturday's caucuses. Saturday's results ended a three-state losing streak to Santorum, who swept contests in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri on Tuesday.
The break until the next primaries is unusually long in the rapid-fire race that's featured six contests in the last two weeks. Romney and his rivals now have 17 days to raise cash and bolster their organizations for what's shaping up to be a slog to the Republican nomination and the right to face President Barack Obama in November.
As Santorum eyes Romney's second home state, Romney turns his attention to extending his huge cash advantage over his rivals.
The Massachusetts governor left Maine before the caucus results were announced to attend a West coast fundraiser Saturday night and issued a written statement to mark his victory in the low-turnout contest.
"I'm heartened to have the support of so many good people in this great state," Romney said. "The voters of Maine have sent a clear message that it is past time to send an outsider to the White House."
Romney is expected to spend much of next week courting donors, while sprinkling in a handful of campaign events. He'll be in Arizona Monday evening.
In Maine, Romney won a plurality of the vote just hours after winning the presidential straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Committee conference in Washington.
But questions about Romney's durability as his party's presumed front-runner persist. Fully 61 percent of Maine voters selected a candidate other than Romney in a state practically in his backyard. And Romney's showing was down considerably from 2008, when he won 51 percent of the vote.
Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a prominent voice among some conservatives, said Romney has work to do to convince GOP voters he's moved beyond his "pretty moderate past ... even in some cases a liberal past."
"I am not convinced, and I do not think the majority of GOP and independent voters are convinced," Palin said on Fox News Sunday.
Romney has focused more on social issues in recent days. He has been particularly aggressive in criticizing Obama's recent decision regarding contraception.
On Friday, after three weeks of controversy that pitted the nation's Catholic bishops against the White House, Obama revised his policy. Instead of requiring church-affiliated nonprofit employers to include contraception in their health insurance offered workers, the policy now requires insurance companies to provide free birth control coverage in separate agreements with workers who want it.
White House chief of staff Jack Lew defended the decision Sunday, noting that there is no longer room for compromise.
"This is our plan," he said on CNN's "State of the Union."
Santorum said the the president's plan doesn't resolve the issue. He says many Catholic institutions are self-insured and those organizations will still be forced to pay for women's contraception despite their religious objections.
"There's no compromise here. They are forcing religious organizations, either directly or indirectly to pay for something that they find is a deeply, morally, you know, wrong thing," Santorum, a Catholic, told NBC's "Meet the Press."
The focus on social issues plays well for Santorum, who has long been considered a staunch cultural conservative. Those credentials helped fuel his success last week.
But he wasn't a factor in Maine, where Romney captured 39 percent of the vote, narrowly defeated Paul's 36 percent, according to state Republican chairman Charlie Webster. Santorum and Gingrich, who didn't actively campaign in Maine, won 18 percent and 6 percent respectively.
The Maine vote totals reflected about 84 percent of the state's precincts, with nearly 5,600 Republicans voting out of 258,000 registered. The contests scheduled for the coming days will not be counted, including an entire county that postponed its caucuses because of a snow storm.
Speaking to supporters in Portland, Paul expressed disappointment that only a portion of the state's caucuses had counted toward the total.
"I wish all the caucuses had met today," Paul said Saturday after the results were announced, adding, "It's almost like we could call it a tie."
Coming off last week's success, Santorum saw a surge in donations. His campaign reports gathering $3 million in the three days immediately following after last week's hat trick, but he's unlikely to catch Romney in the money race.
Santorum reported just $279,000 in the bank at the end of December, compared with Romney's $19.9 million. Gingrich had $2.1 million, but is still carrying substantial debt, while Paul reported $1.9 million.
Romney won 11 delegates and Paul 10, according to an analysis by The Associated Press. Santorum and Gingrich were shut out.
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