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PHOENIX: Mitt Romney faced a crucial debate Wednesday as he tries to stop surging rival Rick Santorum from derailing his presidential bid by winning key Republican primaries in Arizona and Michigan.
Santorum soared from a distant third into pole position after a trio of wins earlier this month in the state-by-state voting contest to decide who takes on Democratic President Barack Obama in November's general election.
Romney, who appeared to have a virtual lock on the Republican nomination after trouncing his rivals in Florida and Nevada, is desperate to stop the rot and has launched a major advertising blitz ahead of two crucial votes.
Up for grabs on February 28 are Michigan, where Romney was born and his father was governor, and Arizona, another supposed Romney stronghold where a significant proportion of the electorate shares his Mormon faith.
Both states were considered shoo-ins for Romney until a short time ago, but such has been the extent of Santorum's popular surge that the rising star now has a chance of taking both.
A Santorum win in either would be a huge blow to Romney going into “Super Tuesday” on March 6, when 10 states vote simultaneously in a potentially decisive night for the Republican race.
A Quinnipiac University poll out Wednesday found Santorum leading Romney 35 percent to 26 percent among nationwide Republicans, followed by former House speaker Newt Gingrich at 14 and Texas congressman Ron Paul at 11.
But the poll found that Obama would defeat Santorum in a general election while an Obama-Romney face-off would be too close to call, adding fuel to Republican concerns about Santorum's electability in a general election.
“This week is very important,” Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, told AFP as Romney geared up for the debate.
“If he were to lose Michigan, the story will be that he can't even win the state where he was born and grew up and where his father was governor.
On the other hand, if he wins Michigan, he is the comeback kid.”On the eve of the CNN-run debate in Arizona, Santorum -- whose trio of February 7 victories in Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado catapulted him into the lead -- sought to rally voters at an afternoon event in Phoenix.
“We are not just here to debate, we are here to win Arizona,” Santorum, told a crowd of sign-waving supporters.
The Republican establishment fears the former Pennsylvania senator, a fierce opponent of gay marriage and abortion, could be a liability in a general election match-up with Obama as his moralizing could turn off independent voters.
Romney, employing the same tactic he used to good effect in Iowa and Florida to see off strong challenges from Gingrich, has launched a barrage of vitriolic attack ads against his chief opponent.
His ad campaign appears to have had some success in Michigan as the latest polling data showed him edging back into the lead, erasing a double-digit margin in Santorum's favor last week.
An NBC News/Marist poll put Romney on 37 percent, Santorum on 35, with Paul on 13 and Gingrich trailing the field with just eight percent of the vote.
Among early voters, Romney had a clear advantage -- 49 percent to 26 percent -- over Santorum, the poll showed.
But a CNN/TIME/ORC survey in Arizona on Tuesday showed Santorum slashing Romney's own double-digit lead there to just four percentage points, within the margin of error.
Romney received a boost hours before the debate, which begins at 0100 GMT Thursday, when he was endorsed by Michigan's second largest paper, The Detroit News.
“Mitt Romney stands alone among the Republican primary field as the candidate capable of winning the White House, and more importantly, of leading the nation to a prosperous future,” the paper said.
“State Republicans should go to the polls Tuesday with two missions: Pick a presidential candidate capable of leading this nation to prosperity and stability and choose a nominee who will give the GOP (Republican Party) a fighting chance of defeating President Barack Obama this fall,” it said.
“On both counts, Mitt Romney is the best choice in the Michigan primary.” Romney's strong debates in Florida were important in his turnaround in fortunes there, while Gingrich's stellar performances in South Carolina saw him briefly surge ahead in the topsy-turvy race.
