Santorum channels Reagan to rally conservatives

DIXON, Ill. — Standing beside a statue of President Ronald Reagan, former Sen. Rick Santorum likened his conservative campaign to that of the late Republican idol Monday and implored Illinois voters not to compromise the Reganesque principles Santorum claims to share when they head to the polls Tuesday.

Santorum’s stop at Reagan’s boyhood home was part of an election-eve swing through Illinois that focused on small-town voters and drew hundreds of supporters to the streets of Dixon, Ill., to hear Santorum make a last-minute pitch peppered with Reagan quotes and jabs at his chief rival for the Republican presidential nomination, Mitt Romney.