“Mitt Romney is taking the path less traveled in the battleground state of Colorado. Set to make his third campaign stop of the general election in the Mile High state, Mr. Romney will once again venture to a reliably Republican corner of Colorado hours away from the state’s heavily populated and hotly contested Front Range. His stop Tuesday, the day after attending a private fundraiser in Aspen, will take Mr. Romney to Grand Junction on Colorado’s Western Slope, a swath of the state that has long favored Republicans. Mesa County gave more than 64% of its votes to Sen. John McCain in 2008,” The Wall Street Journal reports.

National Journal writes: “Given the Democrats' line of attack these days and the ads they are running in Colorado, Romney may well be asked in Grand Junction about his tax shelters and business practices. And that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing for him. As any political pro will tell you and no doubt has told him: Better to get your sea legs now when people's minds are wrapped around summer vacation -- and not later when you're on the debate stage with a sitting president, a persistent moderator and most of the country watching.”

Reuters: “U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney raised $106 million in June, far surpassing President Barack Obama's $71 million haul in the record-setting money race leading to the November 6 election. Romney's fundraising mark, announced by his campaign on Monday, is the best monthly total so far in the 2012 presidential campaign. It is another sign that Romney and his allies are on course to wash away any cash advantage that Obama, as an incumbent president, typically would enjoy in a bid for re-election.”

President Obama traveled to Colorado Springs, CO on Friday, where devastating forest fires have displaced thousands of families, to survey the damage and praise the fire fighters and volunteers working to stop the blazes there.

Standing in front of a makeshift triage center at the city’s Fire Station Number 9, where he had just thanked a group of firefighters and officials, the president urged Americans to show solidarity with the victims of the destruction here and elsewhere in the country.

“Whether it's fires in Colorado or flooding in northern parts of Florida, when natural disasters like this hit, America comes together and we all recognize that there but for the grace of God go I. We've got to make sure we have each other's backs.”

He praised the bravery of the firefighters, noting in particular some he met who had just salvaged three homes, whose work “means the world” to the communities they’re helping. 

“We can provide all the resources, we can make sure they're well-coordinated but as I just told these firefighters what we can't do is to provide them with the courage and determination and professionalism, the heart they show when they're out there battling these fires.” 

The president also stressed the importance of firefighters in all communities, not just those in peril, seeming to make a subtle allusion to one of his chief jobs priorities -– preserving and hiring more state and local government employees, including firefighters.

“For folks all around country, I hope you are reminded of how important our fire departments are,” he said. “Sometimes they don't get the credit that they deserve until your house is burning down or your community is being threatened.”

“And we've got to make sure that we remember that 365 days a year,” he continued.

Shortly before he made his remarks, the president toured the Colorado Springs neighborhood of Mountain Shadows, where fires burned through a path that completely destroyed some homes while leaving adjacent houses untouched.

He passed half-melted children’s swing sets in backyards of razed homes and one charred frame of a small white Toyota sedan.

According to reporters traveling with the president, the air smelled like smoke.

He also visited a YMCA shelter housing evacuees, telling the few dozen people gathered there that he could “only imagine how humbling it is to lose a home” but that “everybody else in the country has Colorado Springs’ back.”

Obama got his first glimpse of the damage as he flew into Colorado Springs and over the still-evacuated Air Force Academy, when, aides say, he looked out and surveyed the scene. The smoke from the fires was evident to those aboard Air Force One. According to one observer, “a thin, hazy layer of gray blanked the sky as far as the eye could see.”

Before the president headed out to Colorado, he declared the High Park and Waldo Canyon fires a disaster. This move allows federal funds to be made available to state and local governments to aide in helping evacuees and fighting the fires which have been burning since early this month. 

Yesterday, multiple federal agencies promised more air support and grants to help bring the fire, which has already claimed one life and left others missing, under control. This morning officials said the Waldo Canyon fire was 15 percent contained and had affected over 16,000 acres of land. 

PUEBLO, CO — First lady Michelle Obama is used to drawing cheers in with almost every sentence in crowds like these, full of supporters of President Obama exclusively. 

But it's likes like this one today in southern Colorado that bring the house down"

"Like so many, like me, like so many of you , Barack knows the American Dream because he's lived it," Michelle Obama told a crowd of over a thousand at the Colorado State Fairgrounds in Pueblo. "It is his life. And he wants everyone who's willing to work hard to have that same opportunity."

In a city like Pueblo, where minorities make up more than 50 percent of the population and the median household income is well below the state's figure, the story of her and her husband's humble beginnings is sure to prompt a flurry of sign-waving and applause.

Mrs. Obama never mentions Mitt Romney's name on the stump, nor does she even use the euphemistic "the other guys" label beloved by Vice President Joe Biden.  But her campaign pitch — on full display during a busy Western swing — relies heavily on the narrative of the first family's unlikely rise to the presidency, drawing a clear contrast to Romney as a wealthy political scion.

"I'm proud of my background," she starts out before launching into her usual telling of her father's work at a water plant on the south side of Chicago.

Weaving the tale of her dad's stoic pride in saving for his children's education and paying bills with meticulous punctuality, she appeared to fight a lump in her throat during a stop outside of Denver.

"That's what I think about every night when I tuck my girls in," she told over 2,500 backers in a high school gymnasium in Centennial. "I think about how I want to do for them what my dad did for me."

And the first lady, wrapping up a two-day campaign swing in battlegrounds Nevada and Colorado, reminded supporters that she and her husband were mired in student debt after college.

"When we first started out, our combined student loan bill was actually higher than our mortgage. How many people can relate to that?" she said in Pueblo as many nodded and clapped their assent.

Unlike campaign stops for both nominees and for Biden, Mrs. Obama's campaign events to date have been free of heckling; tickets are typically only distributed through Obama for America field offices and usually require volunteer service for the campaign or at least a lengthy wait in line.

Despite gentle references to controversial topics — like the Obama administration's repeal of the 

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, push for the DREAM Act, and the White House's overhaul of health care — she pushed a message of inclusiveness in Denver, saying that the goals of equality and opportunity can be embraced by anyone regardless of political party.

"I don't care who we are," she said, in the only oblique reference to Republican opponents during the day. "The things I just talked about, every American in this country wants the same things." 

This week’s 10 hottest advertising markets: It’s all about VA, OH, and CO… Just one NC market on the list… Restore Our Future goes up with big TV ad buy, while Crossroads goes down (and it’s no accident)… Poll: Obama’s immigration play looks to be an early winner… Romney slams Obama on Russia… Rubio isn’t being vetted?... Kerry to play Romney in Team Obama’s mock debates… And Romney bus tour ends today in Michigan.

Kevin Lamarque / REUTERS

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama wave to supporters during a campaign rally at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia May 5, 2012.

*** This week’s 10 hottest advertising markets: So where is the TV ad war taking place in the presidential race? Eight of the 10 hottest advertising markets (in terms of advertising points from June 18-24) are in the three battleground states of Virginia, Ohio, and Colorado. In fact, three of this week’s top four markets are in Virginia, including No.1 Richmond (which was No.2 last week). Three Ohio markets make our list (Cincy, Cleveland, Columbus), compared with just one from last week. Also, for the first time on our weekly list, we have two Colorado markets (Colorado Springs and Denver). This shouldn’t be surprising after our NBC-Marist poll showed a tight race in the state and especially after that Peter Hart focus group there. And finally, there’s just one North Carolina market (Charlotte) after four Tar Heel State markets were on our list last week (Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, Greensboro, and Asheville). Bottom line: This week, it’s all about Virginia, Ohio, and Colorado. By the way, for those scoring at home, a Virginia market has been No.1 in the most saturated category for two of the last three weeks.

1. Richmond-Petersburg: Obama 1,074, Romney 981, Priorities 337, Restore 265, Crossroads 45
2. Norfolk-Portsmouth: Obama 1,090, Romney 889, Priorities 280, Restore 240, Crossroads 51
3. Colorado Springs: Romney 1,062, Obama 755, Restore 355, Priorities 226, Crossroads 40
4. Roanoke-Lynchburg: Obama 1,057, Romney 830, Restore 416, Crossroads 69
5. Cincinnati: Obama 998, Romney 877, Restore 347, Crossroads 56
6. Cleveland: Obama 951, Romney 625, Restore 229, Priorities 213, Crossroads 46
7. Denver: Obama 885, Romney 825, Restore 225, Priorities 123
8. Columbus: Obama 723, Romney 610, Priorities 341, Restore 199, Crossroads 69
9. Charlotte: Romney 749, Obama 746, Restore 324, Crossroads 45
10. Des Moines: Obama 740, Romney 623, Restore 207, Planned Parenthood 159, Crossroads 36

*** Restore goes up, Crossroads goes down: As you might see in the numbers above, the pro-Romney Super PAC Restore Our Future is back in action. Indeed, according to ad-buying data from SMG Delta, Restore has purchased a $7.2 million buy from June 20-30 in nine battleground states: CO, FL, IA, NH, NV, NC, OH, PA, and VA. Also note that the Super PAC is advertising in Miami and Philadelphia, two expensive markets where the Obama campaign hasn’t spent much money. This big buy comes, of course, after reports that Sheldon Adelson and his wife cut Restore Our Future a $10 million check. One other thing to note: Restore is going up just as Crossroads GPS is going down. This is no accident, folks. These two advertising entities are run, in part, by Romney ’08 aide Carl Forti. And these groups are allowed to coordinate. It’s a one-two punch for the pro-Romney groups. This does NOT count the Koch Brothers’ conservative groups (Americans for Prosperity and American Energy Alliance), which emphatically do NOT coordinate with the Rove-Romney entities.

*** Obama’s immigration play looks to be an early winner: So how is President Obama’s immigration announcement playing? According to the first major poll we’ve seen -- from Bloomberg -- it appears to be early winner. “Sixty-four percent of likely voters surveyed after Obama’s June 15 announcement said they agreed with the policy, while 30 percent said they disagreed. Independents backed the decision by better than a two-to-one margin.” Also, make no mistake about the impact of the praise that Mexican President Calderon showered on Obama. We imagine that got bigger play on the major Spanish-language TV networks than on the English-language stations, something Chicago won’t be too upset about.

*** Romney slams Obama on Russia: Yesterday’s body language between Obama and Putin at the G20 was striking for everyone to see. And, in a way, it plays into Mitt Romney’s talking points that Russia is a threat that the Obama administration hasn’t taken seriously. In fact, here’s Romney to FOX: “The Obama message to Moscow has been a reset policy -- that somehow everything is warm and fuzzy between us and Moscow. And what we've seen over the last several years is that Moscow didn't get the message. The president's reset policy has been an abject failure.” As for the policy front, Obama aides are emphatic that more progress was made between the two leaders on how to move forward on Syria. The news is that Putin has moved from being against removing Assad from power to at least considering it. The sticking point: Russia does not believe the U.S. has made a case that there’s a credible Plan B that will allow for stability post-Assad. Putin apparently pointed to the current situation in Egypt as an example of how unpredictable these power vacuums become. That said, the Obama folks hinted that a formal political process post-Assad could be made public in days and the implication given at a press briefing yesterday was that if that was the case, the plan would have SOME blessing from Russia.

*** Rubio isn’t being vetted? ABC’s Jonathan Karl is reporting that -- as of right now -- Marco Rubio isn’t being vetted by the Romney campaign. (NBC News has been unable to confirm this report, and Rubio himself declined to talk about the VP process in an interview with CNBC.) “Knowledgeable Republican sources tell me that Rubio is not being vetted by Mitt Romney’s vice presidential search team. He has not been asked to complete any questionnaires or been asked to turn over any financial documents typically required of potential vice presidential candidates.” The article does contain this caveat, though: “Although it is possible that Rubio may yet be asked to go through the vetting process, it has been nearly two months since Romney named his long-time aide Beth Myers to run his vice presidential search.” What is going on here? We’ve never believed that Rubio was going to the Romney’s camp’s top-top guy, but do they want it out there that the GOP’s highest-profile Latino isn’t being vetted? Or maybe they do if he’s not going to be the one – in order to lower expectations. Over the last two weeks, potential VPers Bob McDonnell and Mitch Daniels both admitted they were not being vetted either (at least in terms of asking to turn over papers). So it’s also possible the Romney team simply hasn’t made the ask yet of any candidates regarding personal and financial records.

*** Kerry to play Romney: In other news in the presidential race, we reported yesterday that the Obama campaign has picked John Kerry to play Mitt Romney in the mock debates. No doubt, Kerry is a proven debater (against Bush in ’04 and Weld in ’96). But do you think Team Obama is relishing all the Kerry-Romney comparisons? An aide tells us Kerry is a good foil for the president for three reasons: 1) he’ll take the work seriously; 2) he knows Romney and has a “strong sense” of him; and 3) Kerry’s relationship with the president is strong, so he won’t be shy about being aggressive with him in prep.

*** On the trail: Romney’s five-day bus tour comes to an end today in Michigan. He holds a business roundtable in Frankenmuth at 9:10 am ET, a rally there 45 minutes later, and another rather in Holland at 6:25 pm…. Also today, Vice President Biden addresses the AFSCME conference in Los Angeles… And First Lady Michelle Obama speaks to campaign volunteers in Henderson, NV. 

Countdown to GOP convention: 69 days
Countdown to Dem convention: 76 days
Countdown to Election Day: 140 days

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CRAIG, CO -- Deep inside Colorado's coal country, Mitt Romney on Tuesday accused President Obama of grasping for a "twig" to hold onto as evidence the administration's economic policies had succeeded.

Romney said that, if he were elected, he would usher in a more business-friendly administration before a crowd of several hundred supporters gathered for a rally in Craig's rustic downtown.

"Now [President Obama's] campaign these days is trying to find a twig to hang on to, some little excuse they can grab and say, ‘Look, things are getting a little better, aren’t they?’ And the answer is yeah, things are getting a little better in a lot of places in this country, but it’s not thanks to his policies. It’s in spite of his policies," Romney said.

The presumptive GOP nominee continued: "You see, every recession ultimately comes to an end, but you’d expect that this deep recession might come back to an aggressive turnaround, but it didn’t happen."

The former Massachusetts governor's campaign has said his focus this week would be on an administration "hostile" to business, and Romney pressed this thesis during today's rally as well.

"Government sees small business and big business as the enemy. We’re not the enemy. Some of these liberals say they like a strong economy but then they act like they don’t like business. An economy is nothing but the collection of all of our businesses together," Romney said. "I want our government to support small business, middle-size business, big business. I want jobs. I want government that’s an ally of business not an enemy of business.”

Romney, who will likely clinch the nomination with the results of tonight's primary in Texas, also continued to lash the president's energy policy; his remarks found a welcome audience composed of roughly 150 coal workers, dressed in dirty overalls and hard hats.

"He said he was going to create some 5 million green energy jobs. Have you seen those around here anywhere?" No, as a matter of fact he's going after energy," Romney said of the president. "He says he for all of the above when it comes for energy, you heard that. And yet he's made it harder to get coal out of the ground, he's made it harder to get natural gas out of the ground, he's made it harder to get oil out of the ground."

But Romney's pessimism about energy and the economy was not echoed by the citizens of Craig (Population roughly 10,000. Elevation: 6,185 feet) who came out in droves to see the Republican candidate, and listen to a local high school band cover pop hits on a glorious Colorado morning. A number of residents described for reporters a recovering economy based on hunting and fishing, and coal mining and oil exploration along the western slope.

With both sides eying one of the fastest-growing blocs in the American electorate, President Barack Obama's re-election campaign on Wednesday announced an aggressive outreach to Latino voters, pushing Democrats' reform proposals and casting Mitt Romney as "extreme" on immigration issues.

The new "Latinos for Obama" effort includes on-the-ground volunteer and staff outreach as well as Spanish-language ads slated to air in heavily Hispanic swing states Colorado, Florida, and Nevada.

Backers of the president hope that Romney's embrace of Arizona's controversial immigration law as well as his pledge to oppose the DREAM Act -- which would offer a path to citizenship for some children who were brought to the United States illegally at an early age -- will mobilize Latinos against the presumptive Republican nominee.

"This election is an opportunity in this country for the Latino community to send a message," said Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., on a conference call announcing the new push. "The reality is that we look at this as the civil rights issue of our time."

Opposition to the DREAM Act is "insulting" to Hispanic families, added San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, who -- echoed by campaign manager Jim Messina -- labeled Romney's positions "the most extreme nominee that the Republican party has ever had on immigration."

Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida has pushed for a "conservative alternative" to the DREAM Act, which would allow some young illegal immigrants to stay in the United States but would prevent them from attaining citizenship. Messina said Wednesday that the president has been focused on reviving the original legislation, which failed in the Senate by a narrow margin late in 2010, but added that the White House would work to "find common ground" with those on the other side of the aisle. 

The Republican National Committee announced its own Latino-focused program earlier this week, launching community outreach directors in Florida, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina and Virginia.  A key part of their message, said chairman Reince Priebus, is to highlight the impact the nation's sluggish economy has on the Hispanic community.

Hispanic voters favored Obama over Republican John McCain by an almost 2-1 margin in the 2008 presidential election. Nationally, the Hispanic vote in 2008 rose to 9 percent of the electorate, up from 8 percent in 2004, but turnout jumped by five points in swing states Colorado and Nevada and by nine points in New Mexico.

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- Rick Santorum began what could end up being a very good day for his campaign emphasizing the importance of the Colorado caucus during the first of three campaign stops in three different states on Tuesday.

Santorum made stops in Colorado and Minnesota, which host caucuses tonight, and will end the day in Missouri, where voters head to the polls for a primary.  Signs indicate Santorum could do well in all three contests, possibly even win one, prompting Santorum to stress the importance of the three states and taking shots at other candidates claiming to not compete there.

"Colorado is a state that, four years ago, Gov. Romney won with 61 percent of the vote. He won and he campaigned hard here. He didn't pass it off like he's been doing the last couple of days and saying, 'Oh, well these are just non binding caucuses, they don't really matter much,'" said Santorum here this morning. "Well they mattered four years ago when he came out here and he campaigned in these very same states. You have an opportunity to reset this race, you have an opportunity to put the best person forward that can defeat Barack Obama tonight."

Missouri in particular has been dismissed by candidates and pundits as nothing more than a beauty contest. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will not be on the ballot there, and Tuesday's non-binding primary will be followed by a caucus next month. It's the state where Santorum has the best chance of winning and where Mitt Romney's campaign has downplayed expectations.

Though he may not officially win any delegates today, any victory for Santorum would be a much needed boast for a campaign struggling to remain relevant since a victory in the Iowa caucuses. Winning Missouri would allow Santorum to boast of a head-to-head victory against Romney, since Gingrich wasn't on the ballot. Along with breaking Romney's winning streak, it could help lend credibility to Santorum's argument that he is the best alternative GOP candidate to the former Massachusetts governor.

"We need to have a conservative alternative and my feeling is that Speaker Gingrich sort of had his chance in the arena and came up short in Florida and Nevada and now it’s our turn hopefully to get a one-on-one in Missouri," Santorum said on Monday at the Colorado School of Mines.

While the Romney campaign has been taming expectations with email blasts warning that their candidate cannot win every primary and caucus, Santorum is doing the opposite.

"If you're looking at the polls, today could be a very good day for the conservative cause," Santorum said.

JOHNSTOWN, CO -- Mitt Romney's campaign spent Tuesday morning tamping down expectations ahead of tonight's nominating contests, going so far as to say they expect to lose the Minnesota caucus to Rick Santorum.

The former Massachusetts governor's campaign circulated a memo and talking points to reporters this morning reminding them that no delegates are bound by tonight's caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado and another primary in Missouri, while reminding interested parties that John McCain lost 19 states in  his successful run for the nomination in 2008.

A senior campaign official also said yesterday he expects Romney will lose Minnesota today -- a state he carried four years ago -- but that the contests remaining in February (and the other ones set for March) all favor point toward Romney being able to gain momentum cement his status as the campaign's frontrunner. This morning's memo from political director Rich Beeson closed by underscoring that same point.

"Speaker Gingrich’s and Senator Santorum’s campaigns have resource challenges. The remaining February states may not be kind to them, and their hopes for a comeback in March may be very difficult and based on an incomplete understanding of the delegate selection rules.  Even “success” in a few states will not mean collecting enough delegates to win the nomination," Beeson wrote. "In contrast, Governor Romney will be competing across the country and collecting delegates in state after state, even if other candidates pick up some wins.  This is exactly the sort of methodical, long-haul campaign we planned for, and we are well on the way to victory."

Romney's campaign made this argument as the candidate himself made a final appearance in Colorado before tonight's caucuses.

The event, though, did not get off to a smooth start.

Thirty minutes after Romney was scheduled to arrive, a woman standing in the front of the crowd suffered a medical problem requiring police attention. She remained on site and was later moved to a VIP seating area. With Romney still absent forty minutes after campaign advisories said the event was scheduled to begin, the candidate called in to the room via Skype, and provided a pixelated and electronically-garbled apology for being late.

When he finally did arrive, nearly an hour behind schedule (a rarity for the tightly-run Romney campaign), Romney apologized for his truancy, blaming weather.

"I really appreciate the warm welcome on such a cold and snowy morning, I guess it took a long time to get the snow off the windshield of the bus. So it slowed us down, but it did not slow you down, so I appreciate your willingness to be here, and to participate in this process," Romney said.

During his speech, Romney once again accused President Obama of waging an "assault on religion," for his position on ministerial exemptions, and on the ongoing battle between the administration and the Catholic church over a new health care mandate.
 
"Just in the last several days the administration has said, under Obamacare, that religious organization like schools, catholic schools, catholic hospitals and so forth have to provide for free contraceptives and free morning after pills, abortive pills, for all of their employees in violation of the religious conscience of those organizations," Romney said this morning at a rally north of Denver. "This kind of assault on religion will end if I’m president of the United States."

Democrats have pushed back since last night, when Romney first spoke about the issue, accusing him of hypocrisy by pointing to similarities between the federal law -- which requires religious organizations like hospitals, colleges and charities to provide birth control under their health plans -- and a similar provision under Romney's Massachusetts health care reform law.

CENTENNIAL, CO — Mitt Romney injected himself into a battle between religious groups and the Obama administration on Monday night, calling a new requirement that health care plans include coverage for contraception a "violation of conscience."

Before one of the largest crowds of his campaign, Romney decried the new rule, which requires religious institutions like hospitals, universities and charities to provide coverage for contraceptive services as part of their health care plans, regardless of the particular group's teachings on contraception. 

While churches are exempt from the new requirement, it has quickly become a lightning rod issue for social conservatives, with the Catholic Church leading the charge against it. 

"We must have a president who is willing to protect America’s first right, a right to worship God, according to the dictates of our own conscience," Romney said to an audience of nearly 3,000 people gathered in a high school gymnasium. "We'll either have a government that protects religious diversity and freedom, or we'll have a government that tells us what kind of conscience they think we ought to have."

Romney, who rarely discusses social issues unprompted on the stump, on Monday made his opposition to the mandate a major applause line at his rally outside Denver.

The issue has quickly become a part of the Republican campaign; Newt Gingrich has accused the Obama administration of waging a "war against religion" with the regulation. 

Romney's comments echo a Washington Examiner op-ed piece he wrote last week, in which the former Massachusetts governor used even more forceful language to describe the new rule as "trampling" religious freedom.

"The Obama administration is forcing religious institutions to choose between violating their conscience or dropping health care coverage for their employees, effectively destroying their ability to carry on their work," Romney wrote, saying he "stands with" Catholic bishops opposed to the mandate. 

Romney's focus on an issue of particular interest to Catholic voters comes on a day in which his campaign has focused its fire on Rick Santorum, a devout Catholic who has made social issues a cornerstone of his campaign. 

The former Massachusetts governor's comments tonight could be seen as an attempt to try to peel away voters from Santorum, the Republican rival a Romney campaign senior adviser acknowledged could snap Romney's electoral win-streak with an upset in Minnesota or Missouri tomorrow.

Democrats called the attacks on the law hypocritical, and were quick to point out similar provisions in the healthcare law Romney passed in Massachusetts. 

“It's the ultimate hypocrisy that Mitt Romney is hitting the President for the same birth control policy he oversaw and protected as Governor," Obama campaign adviser Stephanie Cutter said in a statement. "The problem for him is that women are on to him.  The trust of voters is priceless in elections, and unfortunately for him it can’t be bought.”

GRAND JUNCTION, CO -- Mitt Romney's campaign has begun to train its sights on Rick Santorum over the past 48 hours, reflecting the Romney campaign's concern that the former Pennsylvania senator may pose the freshest threat to their frontrunner status.

The Romney campaign released a barrage of opposition research on Santorum on Monday morning, the type of offensive tactic that had previously been reserved for Newt Gingrich and, before him, Texas Gov. Rick Perry. The former Massachusetts governor's campaign worked to link Santorum to pork barrel spending during his time in Congress, and touting his endorsement of Governor Romney in the last presidential race. 

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty assailed Santorum's record on spending during a conference call with reporters, listing the litany of earmarks Santorum had supported -- and has subsequently defended -- during his time in Congress.

And, in a reflection of the changing dynamics in the GOP nominating battle, Pawlenty sought to downplay expectations for Romney's performance in tomorrow's Minnesota caucuses -- a minor nominating contest, but one in which Santorum believes he might be able to score a February upset.

"I think it's going to be a tight race. Mitt Romney is competitive here," Pawlenty told Andrea Mitchell in an MSNBC interview this afternoon, repeating a point he made on the conference call. "I think you'll see a clumping result tomorrow. But it's certainly a place where other candidates are going to have a stronghold, and it's not going to be a walk in the park for Mitt Romney."

Why the change in focus? It's reflective of a change in political geography and political realities that opens the door for Santorum to climb back into the top tier of candidates this week.

Social conservatives make up a greater proportion of the voters in Minnesota, whose caucus-goers might most closely resemble caucus-goers in Iowa -- the contest in which Santorum barely edged Romney on Jan. 3. Unlike in Iowa, though, Romney doesn't have the benefit of having spent the kind of money as he did in Iowa, and his infrastructure there is less developed than it was in the Hawkeye State.

Campaigning this morning in Rochester, and clearly enjoying the chance to scrap with the frontrunner, Santorum delivered a speech attacking Romney for his Massachusetts healthcare plan, labeling it "Obamneycare" -- a term coined, ironically, by Pawlenty this June.

"The press likes to write the story that there is an inevitability to 'Obama light' on health care being the Republican nominee. That would be a devastating thing for the chances of us who would like to see President Obama defeated in the next election," he said. "Gov. Romney is dead wrong on the most important issue of the day and he should not be our nominee."

Santorum's campaign has aggressively circulated the results of computerized polling (data not used by NBC News) suggesting a surge in momentum for their candidate in Minnesota.

For the Romney campaign's part, they've largely ignored Minnesota and Missouri. Romney hasn't campaigned in Missouri at all in 2012, and has made only one stop in Minnesota: taking part in a rally in Eagan last week. Today, Romney will send surrogates John Bolton and Pawlenty to campaign for him in Minnesota, while he campaigns in Colorado for the next two days.

On Jan. 30, Romney was asked by a reporter what states he thought could present uphill battles going forward. Minnesota was the first state to pass his lips, and he described it as one of a number of states that present "challenges and opportunities, and as a "state that’s hard to predict how they’ll make their decision."