Romney, Santorum Make One Last Primary Push In Illinois

By aaroncynic in News on Mar 20, 2012 2:00PM

Mitt Romney photo credit: Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com, Rick Santorum Photo Credit: Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com

Both Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum spent Monday campaigning across Illinois in a final push before today's primary. Santorum spent time in Moline, Dixon, and Rockford, while Romney gave speeches in Springfield and at the University of Chicago, the Chicago Tribune reports. In Rockford, Santorum tried to paint Romney as the 1 percent Republican presidential candidate, saying “"Do you think this country wants to elect a Wall Street financier?" Standing in front of a statue of Ronald Reagan in Dixon, Santorum once again called out Romney for supporting federal health care reform, saying that the former governor “abandoned freedom” by “promoting Obamacare.”

Meanwhile, Romney spent most of his time attacking the Obama administration, talking tax cuts and regulation reductions. “Milton Friedman knew what President Obama still has not learned, even after three years and hundreds of billions of dollars in spending: The government does not create prosperity; free markets and free people do,” he told students and supporters at the University of Chicago reports the Sun Times. He later went on to say he would cut taxes and reduce government spending, singling out Planned Parenthood as one of many programs which would need to “stand on their own.”

Nationally, CNN reports Romney leads the pack of Republican presidential primary contestants with 519 delegates, followed by 239 for Santorum, and 138 for Newt Gingrich. Ron Paul is trailing with 69. Polls show that 44 percent of likely voters are in favor of Romney. In Illinois, Romney is expected to win more delegates since Santorum will not appear on the ballot in 4 districts.