TROY, Mich. — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is playing up his Michigan roots just days ahead of the state’s crucial primary. But the native son faces a serious challenge from an outsider who’s connecting on much more personal level with this hardscrabble state’s conservative blue-collar voters: Rick Santorum.
Romney was born and raised in Michigan, the son of an auto executive who in the 1960s became a popular three-term governor. But his affluent upbringing, and a business career so successful he needed Swiss and Caribbean bank accounts to shelter his fortune, are making it difficult for Romney to overcome high expectations that he should dominate Tuesday’s primary.
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Meanwhile, Santorum, an unabashed conservative who grew up in the coal and steel region of western Pennsylvania, is being embraced as a kindred spirit by struggling residents in the Wolverine State, where unemployment is at 9.3 percent and the state’s automakers needed a federal bailout to survive.
While Romney struggles awkwardly to connect with blue-collar voters by mentioning that his wife “drives a couple of Cadillacs,” Santorum on Saturday was rallying a working-class crowd by blasting President Obama’s suggestion that every child needed to go to college.
“What a snob!” Santorum shouted, sending the crowd into wild applause.
Michigan votes Tuesday and the stakes are far greater than the 30 convention delegates it offers.
For Romney, a loss in his “home” state would make him appear weak, particularly after carrying the state in the 2008 campaign. It would be a far cry from the aura of inevitability he’s been trying to create.
For Santorum, a victory on Romney’s home turf would provide considerable new momentum and underscore his status as the conservative alternative to the former Massachusetts governor.
Santorum is targeting the state’s conservative, pro-life Republicans and its “Reagan Democrats” by talking about his upbringing in blue-collar Butler County, Pa., near Pittsburgh. He talks of Pittsburgh’s economic resurgence after the 1970s exodus of the steel industry and says the same rebirth is possible for Michigan, where the decimation of the auto industry and other manufacturing industries fueled the state’s decline.
Santorum is also touting his economic plan to specifically boost American manufacturing with generous tax breaks that would preserve blue-collar jobs.
“Manufacturing is not only important for blue-collar America,” Santorum told a Lincoln Park crowd. “It’s also important for small-town America.”
Mary Cabadas, of Dearborn, said she came away from Santorum’s event impressed with the plan and the man.
“I really like his blue-collar background,” Cabadas said.
Even as he struggles to connect in a state he left five decades ago, Romney has managed to eliminate Santorum’s recent lead here, pulling ahead slightly in the polls thanks to a superior campaign organization, a huge financial advantage and a strong debate performance last week.
Romney is also counting on legions of voters he hopes will turn out for him out of loyalty to his deceased father, former Gov. George Romney.
Terry West, 75, not only voted for the elder Romney but worked as a volunteer on his campaign. He sees some of the senior Romney in son Mitt.
“He’s got the stature and he puts on a good appearance and he’s a good executive,” said West. “I think he’s proven himself.”
