The Hill News

Mitt Romney's campaign turned up the heat on Rick Santorum, accusing the former senator as being part of "the liberal wing" of the Republican Party on fiscal issues and saying "he's wrong now to cast himself as the broad comprehensive conservative" as polls show the former Massachusetts governor losing ground in the race for the presidential nomination.

Romney surrogates attempted to highlight Santorum's voting record on earmarks and increasing the debt ceiling as polls show strong conservatives increasingly coalescing around the former senator's campaign.

In a poll released Tuesday by CBS and the New York Times, Santorum was the choice of 38 percent of conservatives - versus just 24 percent for Romney - and 36 percent of Tea Party voters backed Santorum, with 24 percent breaking for Romney. Santorum's support among white evangelicals has jumped to 39 percent, up from just 23 percent last month.

But Romney's backers argue that voters sim! ply aren't aware of Santorum's voting history.

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