Republican presidential contender Rick Santorum urged Tucson voters to to examine the candidates' records and their rhetoric, and ask who has the most character, ability and drive before they go to the polls on Tuesday to pick the party's nominee to face President Obama in November.
"Who do you trust? Who's authentic? Who's believable? Is it the guy reading from the teleprompter? Or is it the guy out here on a high-wire line telling you what's in his heart and what's in his gut?" Santorum asked about 500 people at a Tucson Tea Party event Wednesday morning.
Santorum's Tucson whistle-stop came just hours before he headed up to Mesa for Wednesday night's debate with fellow GOP contenders Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul.
Santorum told Tucsonans that if they examine candidates using his criteria, they'll discover he's the man they should vote for rather than Mitt Romney.
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Santorum touted the fact that he was the only GOP candidate to make an appearance in Tucson on Wednesday. Romney visited Tucson late last year to meet with business and community leaders.
"I wanted to let the folks down here in the southern part of the state, who are grappling with the big and tough issues of the day, to know you have a candidate who cares about you enough to come here," Santorum said.
Santorum took several jabs at Romney, but spent more time bashing Obama, including on national security. He said Obama is ceding ground to evil forces around the world.
"Our president refuses to call evil 'evil,' " said Santorum, cheered on by the tea partiers, using Obama's diplomatic approach with Iran as an example. "Refuses to name it. Refuses to confront it. Tries to appease and conjure it in an effort to reduce America's commitments around the world."
He said national security will be a huge issue in the campaign.
"Of course, there is no bigger issue of national security than securing the southern border," Santorum said.
He vowed to build border walls and put in all the technology necessary to secure the border. He joked about the border being 42 percent secure, alluding to a 2011 Government Accountability Office report that found 44 percent of the nearly 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border is under "operational control."
"I don't know about you, but if you built a fence around 42 percent of the perimeter of your house, would you feel secure?" Santorum said.
He said legal immigration is an important part of the nation, but illegal immigrants are a problem. He said he understands the heartache of deporting people and separating them from their families, but said that's part of immigrating legally.
He cited the experience of his immigrant grandfather, who came to the U.S. in 1925 and was separated from his family for five years.
"That's right, America is worth it, to do it the right way," he said. "We are a country of laws. The best way you can show your respect for our country is to respect our laws."
He told the crowd that he is grateful for the tea party for revitalizing the conservative spirit within the Republican Party and elevating the U.S. Constitution.
"If not for the tea party, we would not have had a successful 2010 (election cycle)," he said. "We would not have been able to stop the insanity that was going on in Washington, D.C., with the huge explosion of government program after government program."
But those advances are only Step 1, Santorum said. Step 2 is defeating Obama, which he told the audience he can do.
