The Romney campaign thinks it’s found a silver bullet issue for knocking out Rick Santorum on Super Tuesday: robocalls.
Surrogates for Romney in six upcoming state contests ripped into Santorum for making automated phone appeals to Democrats in Michigan’s open primary during a conference call Wednesday, accusing him of exploiting progressive activists who organized votes for Santorum as a prank on Republicans.
“I think it’s a disgrace that Sen. Santorum stands there and, in effect, stands shoulder to shoulder with Michael Moore,” former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu said, referring to the liberal filmmaker and Michigan native, who endorsed the Democrats’ plan to tip the scales for Santorum, in an effort dubbed “Operation Hilarity.”
Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) even suggested Santorum should “agree to give back a percentage of delegates he won in the primary” in districts where he won votes from Democratic voters unlikely to support him in the general election.
“We saw that Rick Santorum cheated, but he couldn’t cheat enough to win,” Turner said. “He cheated by asking people who would never vote for him for president to vote for him in the Republican primary.”
Several of the upcoming Super Tuesday races are open primaries that allow Democrats to participate, meaning there’s potential for more mischief if progressives try to reproduce their Michigan effort, dubbed “Operation Hilarity.” Another highly contested state, Ohio, allow voters to switch parties at the polling site.
Santorum says he limited his outreach to conservative “Reagan Democrats” who might actually vote for him, and aides claim they only spent about $2,000 on the calls.
“You know, it’s interesting that he criticizes me for attracting Democrats because one of the things that Gov. Romney’s people say is he can’t attract Democrats,” Santorum said on FOX News this week.
Romney’s campaign argued on Wednesday that it was impossible to separate Santorum’s efforts from the high-profile campaign by Democratic activists to gather Santorum votes in order to damage the Republican Party.
“By definition, a principled conservative doesn’t overtly seek Democratic votes to wreak havoc in a primary,” Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens said. “If you’re running for president to be the conservative voice, you don’t overtly seek union, liberal voters when your campaign has become desperate.”
All signs suggest Romney is going to make the robocall story critical to his attack in the final days before Super Tuesday’s 11 state contests. In addition to Wednesday’s conference call, the campaign also released a web video and fundraising appeal jumping off Santorum’s Democratic appeal.
