MOLINE, Ill. — Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney was fighting for votes in rural Illinois on Sunday, hoping to cut into the conservative support so critical to his most persistent rival, former Sen. Rick Santorum.
Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts whom many Republican voters see as too moderate, emphasized his business experience while portraying Santorum as a career politician and Washington insider with a resume similar to the man they both seek to replace, President Obama.
“We’re not going to replace an economic lightweight with another economic lightweight,” Romney said here.
Santorum made no public stops in Illinois on Sunday, though he is scheduled on Monday to campaign in the same rural areas in which Romney appeared. But in a series of television interviews, Santorum suggested Romney was unlikely to overturn Obama’s health care reforms, which were modeled on changes Romney implemented in Massachusetts, and challenged Romney to a one-on-one debate.
“The more I look at the record of Gov. Romney and match it up against Barack Obama, I feel like I am doing a training run for the general election,” Santorum said on ABC’s “This Week.”
Romney campaigned Sunday in the Quad Cities and Rockford, and will follow up Monday with visits to Springfield and Peoria. Romney is focusing on the urban hubs in predominantly rural districts, hoping to undercut Santorum with the very kinds of voters who propelled him to near-upsets over Romney in Michigan and Ohio.
Though polls show Romney and Santorum in a virtual tie, most of Illinois’ 69 convention delegates are awarded by congressional districts in a complicated voting system that favors Romney. Santorum is countering that strategy by rallying voters in Downstate Illinois, where his brand of unabashed conservatism resonates more strongly than in the more moderate suburbs of Chicago.
Romney spoke at an American Legion brunch Sunday in the western border city of Moline. Voters here more closely resemble the Iowa caucusgoers across the river — who backed Santorum over Romney in January — than their suburban counterparts in northern Illinois.
Republicans expressed admiration for both candidates and were excited just to be playing an influential role in a nominating process many thought would be decided by the time Illinois votes Tuesday. Illinois last played such a role in 1988.
Even Romney supporters voiced little animosity toward Santorum for continuing on in the race despite Romney’s warnings that a drawn-out, bloody primary would hurt the party’s chances against Obama in November.
“It’s absolutely wonderful to have a voice and not have our candidate chosen for us and we can vet our candidate,” Candace Donnelly said after Romney greeted patrons in a Rockford restaurant.
Like many other Republicans, Linda Leuschen, of Silvis, Ill., said there was a lot about Santorum she liked, but “it feels like Romney is probably the better candidate to face Obama.”
Santorum, she said, is too easily lured into debates over social issues at a time when voters are focused on the economy.
Romney, meanwhile, focuses almost exclusively on the economy. But voters wonder why he doesn’t have more of Santorum’s passion.
“I wish we heard a little more fire from him,” Alan Arians, of Sterling, Ill., said of Romney.
