Santorum a threat to Romney in Mich.

Rick Santorum, who has demonstrated an ability to rally social conservatives, is now trying to broaden his coalition in Michigan by attracting blue-collar fiscal conservatives - and do it all in Mitt Romney’s boyhood backyard. A victory in Michigan Feb. 28 would be a stunning upset for the former Pennsylvania senator, and would signal his ability to do well in Rust Belt states where manufacturing has taken a beating in the economic downturn. “You’re seeing that Anybody But Romney vote unite around Santorum here in Michigan,’’ said Steve Mitchell, an East Lansing-based pollster. “The question it really comes down to is … will Santorum have enough money to compete? Or is he just going to get overwhelmed by the amount of money Romney and his supporters pour in?’’ Santorum has yet to feel the full impact from the barrage of negative ads that started coming his way yesterday from Romney supporters. Santorum quickly responded with an ad of his own, showing a Romney body double running around an empty warehouse with a machine gun, misfiring muddy pellets at Santorum. “In the end,’’ the commercial says, “Mitt Romney’s ugly attacks are going to backfire.’’ For Romney, the stakes could hardly be higher as he tries to rebrand himself as a conservative standard-bearer in the wake of his three-state defeat by Santorum last week. A Romney loss in Michigan - the state where he grew up, the state his father governed, the state he says he loves - would not only breathe further life into Santorum’s campaign but could derail Romney’s. “Everybody here, I think, has been expecting all along this would be a slam-dunk for Mitt Romney,’’ said Bill Ballenger, editor of the Inside Michigan Politics newsletter. “Rick Santorum is nothing here in Michigan. Never has been. Nobody knows who he is personally.’’ It’s stunning, he said, that the race here is suddenly competitive. New polls show Santorum gaining ground in nearly every region of Michigan, from the industrial areas of Detroit to the rural northern peninsula to the socially conservative areas in western Michigan. He’s ahead by double-digits in some surveys, buoyed by personal popularity and support from the Tea Party, in a state rich with Catholics and evangelicals. Voters have also started to sour on Newt Gingrich, who was formerly seen as the chief alternative to Romney. Romney’s campaign projects confidence as it launches tougher attacks on Santorum, encourages absentee voting by supporters, and collects endorsements, including one expected today from Governor Rick Snyder. From: Boston