FAIRFIELD, Calif. -- Rick Santorum delivered what was billed as a major foreign policy speech at One Jelly Belly Lane in his latest in a series of attempts to invoke images of conservative icon Ronald Reagan.

Speaking to a crowd gathered at Jelly Belly Candy Company here, the candy manufacturers who produced Reagan's beloved jelly beans, Santorum's policy address was part homage to the former president and part blazing critique of his chief rival for the GOP nomination, Mitt Romney.

A picture of Reagan's face made out of jelly beans hung outside on the room where the former Pennsylvania senator told supporters the spirit of the Great Communicator had been lost.  Santorum was not shy about citing Romney as an example of a politician who does not fit the Reagan mold.  Santorum said Romney's inconsistencies on issues like gay marriage and abortion rights.

"We as conservatives need to stand up and fight for a candidate that can win this general election, who stands solidly, firmly on the 3 legs of the stool that brought the Reagan coalition together," Santorum said, referring to Reagan's belief in free enterprise, strong national defense, and conservative social values.

But it is an ad in Wisconsin which Santorum says paints him as an abortion rights advocate that GOP hopeful seemed particularly bothered by.

"I find it sort of remarkable that Gov. Romney is out running ads in Wisconsin right now basically saying I'm not pro-life," Santorum said, following with a list of the anti-abortion rights legislation he help push in Congress.  "To suggest somehow or another that I am not pro-life, again, is a disingenuous game that is played by politicians who seek power instead of trying to be truthful to the American public," he said.

Santorum laid out a national security platform based in strengthening the U.S. relationship with its allies and holding other countries accountable, two things he criticized Obama for failing to have done.

"If you are a foe of the United States, and you do not respect the United States and our security interests, you will learn to fear the United States and your security interests," he said to applause.  "Of all of the failings of this president, perhaps the greatest is on national security.  And folks that’s saying something."

Visiting California meant a break from campaigning in Wisconsin, where polls showed Santorum struggling to keep pace with Romney.  And yesterday, more bad news as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) gave his much anticipated endorsement to Romney.

"If an endorsement hurt me, I wouldn't be here," Santorum said while greeting voters after the event.

The candy company was Santorum's only campaign event in the Golden State, which holds its primary June 5.  He spent the earlier part of the day fundraising in the Los Angeles area.  And despite their late primary, the GOP hopeful seemed confident the state would be important this cycle.

"California doesn't get a chance very much to play in presidential politics, of late," he said.  "But you will in this presidential primary."

DELAVAN LAKE, Wisc. -- Despite news of a dramatic cutback in Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign staff, Rick Santorum is still refusing to call for the former House Speaker to leave the race.

"I think it is time for all the Republican candidates to coalesce behind me. You know, let's just have a conservative nominee to take on Barack Obama. Until that time happens, I'm not going to call on anyone to get out," Santorum said Tuesday night.

The former Pennsylvania senator spent the day campaigning through Wisconsin.  As he greeted patrons at restaurant here during his last stop, reporters told him of the reports that Gingrich had cut a third of his paid staff, including his campaign manager.  The news was met with a wince and head shake.

"One of the things I was told very early on in presidential politics is that you run for president as long as the money hangs on," said Santorum.  "Obviously, financially, it's tough. I can certainly understand that. So, I don't know what his plans are. As I've said before, were going to run the race irrespective of who's in and who's out."

Santorum said his campaign has not reached out to Gingrich, but that they "exchanged pleasantries" when they both met with the same group of reporters in Washington, DC on Monday.

Though Santorum has continually refused to call on Gingrich to leave the race, both he and senior staffers have blamed the waning GOP candidate for cutting into his vote totals and preventing a serious challenge to frontrunner Mitt Romney. Senior strategist John  Brabender has in the past openly welcomed Gingrich to be a top voice for Santorum's campaign and has also said they would like to hire his staffers.

But even as a contender fades away, the road continues to be a tough one for Santorum.  Polls show him struggling in the Badger State, where he is being heavily outspent.

He'll spend the majority of the time between now and Tuesday's primary in Wisconsin.

FRANKSVILLE, Wis. -- What started as a good day for Rick Santorum took an abrupt turn on Sunday after the GOP presidential candidate grew frustrated with reporters asking him to clarify his remark that Mitt Romney is the worst Republican in the country to take on President Obama.

During his final campaign stop of the day here, Santorum said of Romney, “Pick any other Republican in the country, he is the worst Republican in the country to put up against Barack Obama." The comments, Santorum would clarify, were in reference to the similarities between Romney's and the president on the issue of health care. It is a common critique he levels against his chief rival, but never has the former Pennsylvania senator called Romney the "worst Republican in the country" to go head-to-head with the president.

When pressed by reporters to clarify his statement, Santorum said, “On the issue of health care. That’s what I was talking about, and I was very clear about talking about that. OK? Come on guys, don’t do this. I mean you guys are incredible. I was talking about Obamacare, and he is the worst because he was the author of Romneycare.”

But the questions struck a chord with Santorum, and when he faced the same question again, he used a profane word and accused the media of "distorting" his speech.

However a press release sent out from the Santorum campaign shortly after the rally here seemed to double down on the candidate's comments. "Rick Santorum spoke plainly and clearly that of all the Republicans in the field, Mitt Romney is the worst possible candidate to take on Barack Obama, because Mitt Romney authored the blueprint for Obamacare and the issue of healthcare would be off the table," the release said.

Santorum has done a lot of clarifying lately, with recent comments suggesting Obama would be a better choice than Romney in a general election and saying the unemployment rate will not affect his campaign. In both cases, he accused the media and his opponents of taking his words out of context. But in both cases, the Romney campaign used his own words against him.

Sunday's remarks were no exception, with Romney spokesperson Ryan Williams telling reporters, “Rick Santorum is becoming more desperate and angry and unhinged every day...He’s panicking in the final stages of his campaign.”

Before his last event, Santorum had been all smiles on the trail the day after receiving nearly double the amount of support Romney did in the Louisiana primary.  Along with two rallies today, the GOP hopeful also fit in brunch at the Machine Shed and, for the second time in as many days, a few frames of bowling. In an earlier rally in Fond du Lac, WI, Santorum drew an overflow crowd.

But by Sunday's end, Romney advisers were using the hash tag "Tantorum" to draw attention to past instances of the former senator losing his cool. The response blasted out by the Santorum campaign no mention of his use of a not so family friendly word.

Santorum heads to Washington, DC where he will spend Monday before returning to the Badger State later in the week.

JACKSON, Miss. -- Rick Santorum called on Mississippi voters to deliver the knockout blow that would end Newt Gingrich's candidacy and make it a two-man race between Mitt Romney and the former Pennsylvania senator for the Republican nomination.

"You have an opportunity here in Mississippi to narrow this race, narrow this race to a conservative versus the insider moderate. I ask you here tonight to stand with me," Santorum told a crowd of 300 at the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum on Wednesday. "If we win Mississippi, this will be a two-person race. And if it is a two-person race, we will nominate a conservative as president of the United States."

The remarks came hours after a Gingrich spokesman said Mississippi and Alabama are must wins for the former Speaker to continue as a viable candidate.

While Santorum and his advisers have not directly called for Gingrich to exit the race, a senior strategist on Tuesday told reporters that they would rally conservative and tea party voters to call on his rival to drop out. "Red, White, and Blue Fund," the pro-Santorum Super PAC on Wednesday sent out an e-mail urging Gingrich to exit the race.

After narrowly losing to Romney by narrow margins in both Ohio and Michigan, the Sanrtorum campaign placed a renewed emphasis on pushing the argument that Gingrich is taking conservative votes from them. The result, they argue, is an inevitable Romney nomination. Ron Paul also remains in the race and has a strong but small base that has not taken votes from Santorum.

Santorum has made the case that he is the more genuine and honest candidate, taking a shot at Romney for using a teleprompter during his Super Tuesday speech the previous night. "Unlike some candidates last night, I didn't have a teleprompter last night ... We don't need any more candidates for presidents, or presidents, who are out there delivering someone else's message that has been poll tested, has been marketed to sell you something," he said.

While scoring victories in Oklahoma, Tennessee, and North Dakota on Tuesday, Santorum held a rally in Steubenville, Ohio at the local high school. The campaign wanted the contrast of one candidate in a small, blue collar town in southeast Ohio going against Romney, who spoke at hotel in Boston.

Romney advisers today said it would take "an act of God" for their candidate to lose the nomination.

"I don’t know about you Governor Romney, but I think it was a blessing and an act of God for us to even be on this stage tonight and I thank God for that," Santorum responded.

"We are connecting, not because everyone agrees with what I’m saying, but people know what I’m saying is what I truly believe is right for this country."

SPOKANE, WA -- Rick Santorum urged Washington caucus goers to support his campaign against "the good ol' boys," a reference to the Republican establishment that the presidential hopeful argued is afraid to nominate a conservative to take on President Obama.

"The best chance for us to win is to not to go along with the good o'l boys who always want to nominate a moderate. The best chance for us to win is to create clear, sharp contrasts," Santorum said at a rally in front of more than 400 people. "Give America a choice."

While Santorum frequently calls himself the only true conservative vying for the Republican presidential nomination, in Washington on Thursday he placed a newfound emphasis on his battle against his the money and organization of his GOP rivals.  His stop here came just hours after the Michigan Republican Party voted to strip Santorum a delegate in the Wolverine State primary.  Instead of tying Romney in delegates, the Santorum campaign found itself at a 16 to 14 disadvantage.

"I just think that you really see what the Romney campaign's all about.  Anything to win, after the fact, break the rules, rewrite the rules," Santorum told NBC News after the rally.  "That’s not the way Republicans and conservatives do it.  But, he's new to the conservative cause, so I'm not surprised he doesn't know that."

A win in the Michigan primary would have been a major setback to the former Massachusetts governor's path to the nomination.  Despite losing the popular vote, the Santorum campaign on Wednesday could still claim they split the delegate count in Romney's home state.
They lost that argument today.

"This is an insurgent campaign.  We are running, we are getting outspent everywhere, 5, 6, 7 to 1.  All the big money guys, spending huge amounts of money.  And any time you punch back, oh, they get all upset, said Santorum.  "'Oh, he's unfair, he called eligible voters and asked them to vote in Michigan.'  Wow, as he's out there telling lie, after lie after lie in Super Pac doing things, I went out and actually asked eligible voters to vote and thats unfair.  Folks, this is the establishment, they don’t like getting into the fight, they just like having the money advantage and having their way."

Washington will hold its caucus on Saturday, and the Santorum campaign sees it as an opportunity to grab headlines and show moment ahead of the 11 states going to the polls in the all-important Super Tuesday contests on March 6.

“You folks have an opportunity to reset this race on Saturday before Super Tuesday,” he said. “You folks have an opportunity to reset this race on Saturday before Super Tuesday."

PHOENIX, AZ -- Rick Santorum told a crowd of supporters here Tuesday tonight that "I will defend everything I say," a comment that took on another layer of significance as reports surfaced of 2008 remarks in which he said Satan is threatening America.

"I've been told that when you don’t read off a teleprompter, they may find a thing or two and say, 'Oh he said this and he might mean this' and the media complains so much about these structured candidates and how they are all so robotic. And then of course when they have a candidate that doesn’t do any of those things they say, 'Oh he’s really out there, you have to worry about what he says.' No you don’t, because I will defend everything I say."

The remark came after Santorum spent most of the day as the banner story on the Drudge Report website about a speech he gave at Ave Maria University in Florida in which he is quoted saying "Satan is attacking the great institutions of America, using those great vices of pride, vanity, and sensuality as the root to attack all of the strong plants that has so deeply rooted in the American tradition."

When asked to respond to the comments, he told reporters after the event "I believe in good and evil.  I think if somehow or another if because you're a person of faith and you believe in good and evil is a disqualifier for president, we're going to have a very small pool of candidates that can run for president."

But pressed about the nearly four year old remarks, Santorum remained defiant. “Look, guys, These are questions that are not relevant to what’s, what’s being discussed in America today…If they want to dig up old speeches of me talking to religious groups they can go ahead and do so but I’m going to stay on message.”

The old comments add to a growing list and much more recent list of controversial things the candidate has said on the campaign trail.

Over the weekend in Ohio he questioned President Obama's theology and suggested the president discriminates against disabled people.

The remarks have drawn scrutiny from the media, but have been untouched by his rivals in the presidential race because they are lines that many times draw applause from the conservative electorate they are all vying for.

Instead, the majority of scrutiny Santorum has received is over his record on spending and the 16 years he spent in Congress.

In front of about 250 supporters at Tuesday’s rally, he said his chief rival Mitt Romney “has run as a liberal, a moderate and a conservative."

“I have never changed my views, ever," Santorum said.  “See who will win and run as a conservative.  I will ensure you that I will actually run as a conservative.”

FLORENCE, SC -- Rick Santorum has only one word to describe the pro-Mitt Romney Super PAC television ad now running in South Carolina and Florida.

"Yuck."

The presidential hopeful said today that the Restore Our Future ad -- which claims Santorum voted to allow convicted felons vote -- is dishonest.  "Now Gov. Romney has taken that and said Rick Santorum is for felons voting, and that is a lie," he told a crowd of nearly 150 people packed into Percy & Willie's restaurant.  "And by the way, I think there is only two states that don't allow that.  And so to go out and mislead the people of South Carolina as to what our record is on this, is just yuck."

Instead, Santorum said he supported a measure that would allow felons who have successfully completed parole to apply to have their voting rights restored.

The former Pennsylvania senator pledged to run a campaign based on integrity that would not "make claims about someone else that aren’t factually based." But he did not rule out going negative, the infamous pledge presidential rival Newt Gingrich made and has since broken.  It was negative ads from the Romney Super PAC that have largely been credited for Gingrich's drop in the polls.

"I know a lot of candidates have been very upset about Gov. Romney and his PAC and what he’s doing attacking, as you know, Gov. Romney and Congressman Paul have been running for now for three states, a pretty hard negative campaign, which I think tells you a little bit about what they think of their ability to appeal to people’s better sides that now they have to go out there and just hammer everybody out there," said Santorum.

"If you do it legitimately that's fine, if you do it legitimately. But repeatedly I think Cong. Gingrich has made the comment, made the point that Gov. Romney has not been accurate in what his assessment is," he added.

With a spike in the polls and yesterday's endorsement from a group of conservative leaders, the Santorum campaign will have deeper pockets than ever before.  The hit from Romney supporters shows he being taken seriously as a contender, but learning from Gingrich's fall in Iowa, there will be increased pressure for him to respond to the negative ads and mailers now beginning to flood the Palmetto State.

"I expect that from Barack Obama I don’t’ expect that from a Republican running for president," said Santorum.

"We are better than that."

WEST COLUMBIA, SC -- Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum on Wednesday hit his Republican rivals for their critiques of frontrunner Mitt Romney's record at Bain Capital, calling their criticisms of the former Massachusetts governor an attack on capitalism. 

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry have used Romney's time at the investment firm to portray him as a business tycoon who fired scores of workers for his own profit.  But Santorum likened such attacks to what he called the anti-capitalism rhetoric President Obama has used to attack America's most financially successful corporate leaders.  Rhetoric, Santorum says, that has stalled the economy and put the country's free market system into question.

"It’s this hostile rhetoric, which unfortunately - I don't want to stand here and be a defender of Mitt Romney, but unfortunately even some in our party now, even some running for president will engage in with respect to capitalism," Santorum said to a town hall of nearly 200 people. "It is bad enough for Barack Obama to blame folks in business for causing problems in this country. It’s one other thing for Republicans to join him."

While others seeking the GOP nomination see Romney's time at Bain and recent comments that he enjoys the ability to fire people as an opening for political attacks, the former Pennsylvania senator has not piled on.  Even when prodded by reporters to take a shot, Santorum instead has only said he believes in the economic model that allows people to be successful.

However, that does not mean Santorum has shied away from taking jabs at Romney.  The candidate trying to portray himself as the only true conservative in the race has elected to use Romney's record as a governor, not a businessman, to go on the offensive.

"The other side is going to look at my record and look at Gov. Romney's record on health care and say, 'You want to attack me on health care?  Who are you to attack me on something that I used your plan to build my health care method?'" said Santorum.  "He's taking away the biggest issue that we have in this election."

The former Pennsylvania senator arrived in South Carolina on Wednesday coming off a fifth place finish in the New Hampshire primary, where he told those here not to look at his ultimate finish, but how dramatically he improved in his poll numbers since last month.

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Touching down in the Palmetto State for just a few hours, Rick Santorum said he wanted to get a head start on campaigning here before candidates start flooding the state on January 11th.

“I wanted to plant the flag here before New Hampshire,” Santorum told reporters before his rally at Chiefs sports bar here, where more than 200 supporters greeted him with a hero’s welcome of whooping and applause.

Santorum’s whirlwind afternoon, capped off with an endorsement from influential conservative leader Gary Bauer, was a marked departure from his trips here before he picked up steam in Iowa, said former Rep. Gresham Barrett, Santorum’s South Carolina chair.

“For the first six months, ten months, we would do an event and we’d have one person, two people, ten, you know, 25 was fantastic,” Barrett told NBC News.

“You feed off this kind of excitement and it’s indicative of what we saw in Iowa, what we’re seeing in New Hampshire and I believe how we’re going to do in South Carolina.”

Santorum made a point to emphasize the centrality of South Carolina – which has picked every Republican nominee since 1980 – to his electoral prospects.

“We cannot win without you,” he told the crowd at Chiefs, asking them to give him a win similar to that which propelled Ronald Reagan to the nomination in 1980, after he lost New Hampshire to George H.W. Bush.

“Ronald Reagan won South Carolina because South Carolina said to the country, we want stark contrasts,” Santorum said. “South Carolina can deliver that message and if you do, I guarantee you that we will have the horses available to go and run this table and you will keep your record intact.”

Santorum, who navigated the crowd with his arm around his wife Karen, added that his whole family would be in South Carolina for the run-up to the vote – even his toddler daughter Bella, who suffers from a rare genetic disorder.

“We knew that breathing some of this free air here in South Carolina would be good for her lungs,” Santorum said. “This is the first state where we’ve put everybody in place. We are going to crisscross this state between now and January 21st.”

In addition to his family, Santorum will have influential Christian conservative leader Gary Bauer in his corner. Bauer, a 2000 presidential candidate who served in both Reagan administrations, praised Santorum as “the next Ronald Reagan” while introducing him at Stax restaurant here.

“For me, Ronald Reagan has always defined what the right political prescription was for the United States,” Bauer said. “As I listened to [Santorum], I realized the next Ronald Reagan had been standing in front of me all this time and I hadn’t been paying attention.”

While Santorum said he was humbled to be compared to the conservative icon, he added that Bauer was qualified to make such a statement.

“I shrink from that to be compared with Ronald Reagan,” he said before adding, “If Gary Bauer says this is the Reagan conservative, he knows better than anyone else in this country who the Reagan conservative is.”

Santorum also urged the crowd at Stax, mostly Republicans from Greenville County, a socially conservative part of the state’s Upstate region (which had the highest voter turnout in 2008), to choose their nominee wisely.

“South Carolina has to speak clearly, particularly in the Upstate, that we do not need just a little better than what we have now; we need big change in Washington D.C.,” he said.

While Santorum urged South Carolina to vote with one voice, some influential conservatives like Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention have recently warned that too many candidates vying for the “anti-Romney” mantle might prevent South Carolina from, as Santorum put it, speaking clearly.

Bauer, however, said he would not join in with Land to encourage second-tier candidates to drop out of the race now so that conservatives could coalesce around one candidate – even if it boosted Santorum.

“I ran myself in 2000, I know what it feels like as a candidate when you’re working really hard and somebody suggests you drop out of the race so I’m not going to do that. But I do think it will naturally happen over time and probably sooner rather than later,” Bauer told NBC.

When Santorum was asked, however, whether other candidates need to drop out of the race to make room for him, he warmed, half-jokingly, to the notion. “It would be nice if everybody did,” he said as reporters chuckled. “I mean, sure, if everybody drops out and says, ‘yeah, Rick’s the guy,’ I’d take  it.”

But until that happens, Santorum will still have to contend with current frontrunner Mitt Romney, whom Santorum prodded briefly at the NBC/Facebook debate over the former Massachusetts governor’s decision not to run for re-election.

When asked by NBC News why he seemed to back off after that singular jab against Romney, Santorum responded, “I don’t go in there to beat up on another candidate.”

That didn’t stop him, however, from touting his anti-Romney offensive during his rally at Chiefs.

“I still have some blood on my sleeve from Mitt Romney after that debate,” Santorum said as the crowd burst into cheers.

DES MOINES, Iowa – With only 20 days until the Iowa caucuses, four GOP candidates made their pitch to social conservatives tonight at the premiere of an anti-abortion documentary narrated by the former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, and Rick Santorum addressed the 1200 person crowd before the house lights dimmed for the “The Gift of Life” premiere.

“I do want you to take note,” Huckabee told the crowd. “There were four candidates who cleared their schedules, and made this a priority event.”

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, trailing in Iowa polls, won the biggest applause from the crowd tonight – and aimed his remarks at his competitors.

“I have some problems with some of the folks who running for office these days when they say, ‘I believe life begins at conception.’  That’s like, I say, ‘I believe the sun rises.’” Santorum said, to laughs.

“Why would you say you believe something that’s a fact?” Santorum added. It seemed to be a reference, at least in part, to Gingrich, who spoke minutes earlier in favor of a congressional bill that would define personhood as beginning at conception – though Santorum said later tonight he was talking about a number of his opponents. "I know that there have been several candidates for president who have stated they believe life begins at conception – and as I said, it’s not a belief, its a fact," Santorum told NBC News.

During her remarks, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann attacked the Obama administration for considering – before reversing course – making the “Plan B” morning-after pill available on pharmacy shelves, “where little girls could find it next to bubble gum and next to M&M’s."

"President Obama is so tied up in his reelection that even he knew that was one step too far,” Bachmann said. Governor Rick Perry touted his record defunding Planned Parenthood in Texas, where he said 12 clinics have closed as a result. He called the new film a tactic in the fight against abortion, saying, “imagine the difference you can make not in just one life, but in two.”

Attacks on Gingrich awaited people after the movie premiere.  A group billed as "Iowans for Life" paid for fliers on cars that read, "The bottom line: Newt Gingrich is a pro-life fraud."

But as Huckabee pointed out during his short remarks inside the theater: “I think it is significant that all four of the candidates who are present tonight have endorsed life. And that ought to be very important.”

Nashua, N.H. -- Rick Santorum may be stuck in the low single digits in New Hampshire polls, but the former senator from Pennsylvania got a boost from a key social conservative on Tuesday. Santorum won the support of activist and former GOP candidate for governor, Karen Testerman.

Testerman -- who previously served as a senior adviser to Rep. Michele Bachmann -- told NBC News by phone she had carefully considered each candidate before settling on Santorum. She served as the Minnesota Congresswoman's communications aide during a controversial staff disbanding in New Hampshire this fall.

"I think [Bachmann] is falling off the charts basically, much to many people's disappointment," Testerman told The Dartmouth earlier this month.

This week, Testerman narrowed her selection to Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum. Just two days ago, she hosted a campaign event that bore witness to a heated but civil debate between Santorum and a voter on abortion and conception. Today, with just 6 weeks left before the January 10 New Hampshire primary, Testerman threw her support behind a candidate many see as the underdog -- a far cry from Gingrich, who won the influential endorsement of New Hampshire's largest paper, the Union Leader.

Nevertheless, Santorum is thrilled about any support he can get in a state where he receives 1% support, according to a recent survey by University of New Hampshire and WMUR.

“Karen has been a steadfast defender of life, family and the foundational values that make our nation great," Santorum told NBC News in a statement. "Karen understands the magnitude of this election, and her vote of confidence tonight is truly an honor.  I am excited to work with her as we move toward victory in the first-in-the-nation primary.”

Santorum returns to New Hampshire December 2-3 to campaign with Testerman and other state legislative endorsers.