EAST PEORIA, IL -- Rick Santorum began the Monday before the Illinois primary addressing Mitt Romney's claims that he is "an economic lightweight." By the day's end, it was the former Pennsylvania senator's own words that had him on the defensive.

Making four stops in the Land of Lincoln, Santorum suggested at a rally in Moline that the nation's unemployment rate "doesn't matter to me."  The point, he later explained, was that his campaign is based on more fundamental issues than the current jobless numbers and that Republicans do not believe it is the government's role to create employment, only to create an atmosphere for job growth.

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But it took little time for his chief rival for the GOP nomination to pounce on the comments. Stumping in Peoria less than two hours later, Romney used Santorum's line to further his case that he the only candidate capable of handling the economy.

 

"One of the people who is running also for the Republican nomination today said that he doesn’t care about the unemployment rate, that does bother me. I do care about the unemployment rate," said Romney.

Santorum's remarks came on the heels of a different eyebrow-raising incident in a Louisiana prayer service on Sunday night. As Santorum sat off to the side in Baton Rouge church, pastor Dennis Terry, who introduced the Republican hopeful, delivered some fiery rhetoric about religious tolerance.  "I don’t care what the liberals say, I don’t care what the naysayers say, this nation was founded as a Christian nation," Terry said, adding, "There’s only one God.  There’s only one God.  And his name is Jesus."

When pressed by reporters on Monday about the comments, Santorum said he did not hold the pastor's views.  "I believe in freedom of religion and all religions are welcome and should be. I think I've made that pretty clear throughout my campaign."

The distractions came less than 24 hours before Illinois voters go to the polls to decide how their 54 delegates will be allocated.  The state is largely expected to favor Romney, but a strong showing from Santorum could further cement his place as the only candidate able to mount a challenge to the former Massachusetts governor's front-runner status.

With more than 15 media appearances on Monday in addition to the four campaign rallies, the Santorum campaign was hoping to leave Illinois on high note.  As Romney delivered an economic address at the University of Chicago, Santorum touted his blue collar candidacy in Dixon, the hometown of GOP hero Ronald Reagan.

"We need someone who can talk and strike blows for big things like Reagan did for freedom, for America," he said while standing in front of bronze statue of Reagan on a horse.  "Let’s just be brutally honest about it. There’s one candidate in this race who could never make this race about freedom because he simply abandoned freedom when he was governor of Massachusetts and he abandoned it when he promoted Obamacare in 2009.”

Throughout the day he called out Romney over his ties to Wall Street and a job creation record that, Santorum said, was one of the worst in the country while Romney led the Bay State.

But during his final rally outside a pizza shop in East Peoria, Santorum seemed to acknowledge the toll his off-the-cuff style has taken on him. "When you got out there and you don’t talk from a teleprompter, and you’re not, you know, reading notes that someone else gave you, occasionally you say something things, you wish you had a, you know, a do-over," he said.

"But you know what, I think it’s important that you get a sense of how real the candidate is, mistakes and all.”

NBC's Jamie Novogrod contributed to this report.

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EFFINGHAM, Ill. -- Rick Santorum on Saturday guaranteed that a win in the Illinois primary will result in his nomination as the Republican presidential nominee.

"This is a primary, and turnout is everything. You do your job, you do your job, then this is the pledge," Santorum said. "If we're able to come out of Illinois with a huge or surprise win, I guarantee you, I guarantee you that we will win this nomination."

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Illinois has largely been predicted to favor Mitt Romney for Tuesday's primary. The vote is expected to be driven by Chicago and its surrounding suburbs, pegged as unfavorable territory for the former Pennsylvania senator's brand of conservatism. But in areas like Effingham, hours south of the Windy City, Santorum hopes to fire up a Republican base that is often overshadowed by its Democratic counterparts to the north.

"You know you don't get a chance to out-vote your friends up in the Chicago-land area very often, but this is a primary and turnout is everything," he said, standing in a warehouse of a local business specializing in kitchen equipment.

While stumping in the Land of Lincoln, Santorum said he feels like he's already running in the general election.

“People ask me why I’m the best candidate to run against Barack Obama," said Santorum. "It’s because I feel like, in many respects, I am running against Barack Obama here in this primary because Mitt Romney has the same positions as Barack Obama in this primary.”

The health care bill that Romney signed as governor of Massachusetts is the issue Santorum has been hammering him on most frequently.

Santorum says the legislation laid the groundwork for the health care bill Obama signed in 2010, and therefore a Romney nomination would prohibit him from successfully running on a platform of repealing it.

Energy is another issue Santorum claims his Republican rival shares with Obama.  “Why, with sky rocketing gas prices, would we nominate someone who had the same position as President Obama with respect to fossil fuels?" he asked.

Santorum began his day stumping in neighboring Missouri, a state that held a non-binding primary that he won last month, but today is holding caucuses.  During a visit to a caucus site in Hazelwood, Santorum claimed dominance: "If you look at the Midwest, all of the Midwest is one color. It’s our color. We’ve won every state in the Midwest."

That statement dismisses Ohio and Michigan, two states Romney won, as part of the Midwest. Asked about it later in the day, Santorum said, "Well, I meant the heartland."

But even in the Show Me State, it was clear how important the primary happening happening across the Mississippi River will be to the Santorum campaign.  “When you leave here, go home, sign up on our website, start calling folks in Illinois. Because we’ve got a big election coming up in a couple days in Illinois," he pleaded. "Please help us out there. If you’ve got friends over there, make sure they get out and help us out."

And even with an aggressive campaign schedule in two states today, the Italian American still found time to show his St. Patrick's Day spirit.  On the stump he wore a green boutineer and his campaign manager tweeted out a picture of him enjoying a Guinness at an Irish pub between stops.

"I usually get there in the morning so I felt a little bad I didn’t get there until lunch time," he said of his March 17 traditional pilgrimage to the pub.

Update: In response to Santorum's comments on Saturday, Romney campaign spokesperson Ryan Williams had this to say:

"Senator Santorum is an economic lightweight who has precisely zero job creating experience. He ought to scare every conservative when it comes to his economic record. We won't get the economy going again by replacing one senator with no job creating experience with another with no job creating experience."