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A new ad run in Michigan by the pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future hits Santorum for voting to raise the federal debt ceiling, for voting in favor of wasteful spending, and for voting to raise his own pay as a member of Congress. - Byron York/Washington Examiner
How many members of Romney's team of House and Senate endorsers have never voted to raise the debt ceiling, never voted for wasteful spending, and never voted to raise congressional pay? The fact is, many, many Republicans who have been members of Congress, especially in the George W. Bush years, have done those things and more. How effective will they be in Romney's effort to condemn Santorum as a big spender? Romney himself can still make the spending argument against Santorum, although as governor of Massachusetts Romney sought federal earmarks just like other governors. But in this campaign Romney has often relied on surrogates to attack his opponents. From now on, when it comes to charges of big spending, Team Romney will have to be careful about who's doing the talking.
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Romney Surrogate Attacks Santorum for Voting the Same Way He Did - Michael Warren/Weekly Standard
Talent continued, pointing to a few votes that show Santorum’s “liberal” spending record. “I want to note that Senator Santorum voted for No Child Left Behind, which was a big expansion of federal power over local education,” he said. “He voted for Medicare Part D, a big expansion of a federal entitlement.” Asked about the validity of these criticisms, particularly since Talent himself had a similar voting record to Santorum while both men served in the Senate, Talent said he would be “happy” to compare his record to Santorum’s if they were running against each other.
“[But] he’s running against Governor Romney,” Talent said. “The point is that Mitt Romney has a much more comprehensively conservative record than Rick does…. He’s running on a comprehensively conservative agenda now, the most conservative anybody’s run on since Reagan. So it’s his record against Rick Santorum’s, which is an issue in Missouri. And Senator Santorum is portraying as a Jim DeMint conservative in Missouri, and it’s just not true.”
