Santorum Paints Romney as Occupy Wall Street 'Adherent'

Recent references made by Mitt Romney to limiting deductions for the "top one percent" offer Rick Santorum an unlikely new area of attack.

Here's a Mitt-bashing angle you might not have thought of: Mitt Romney, Occupy Wall Street-sympathizer. That was the accusation hurled at the Republican presidential contender by Rick Santorum during a fiery speech delivered in suburban Detroit this morning, Politico reports. Speaking to a crowd of about 1,000 conservatives gathered for the Americans for Prosperity conference, Santorum called Romney's recent attacks on Santorum's conservative record "laughable," and said Romney is patterning his language on the OWS vernacular:

"Don't worry, we'll limit deductions for the top one percent. The top one percent. Hmm, where have I heard that?" Santorum said, via POLITICO's Juana Summers. "We have a Republican running for president who is campaigning as an Occupy Wall Street adherant [sic]. What's he going to do? He's going to limit charitable deductions on the top 1 percent."

Hours later, speaking to the same crowd, Romney continued to attack Santorum's voting record, CNN's Political Ticker blog reports, reminding voters of Santorum's recent admission that he'd voted in favor of the No Child Left Behind law, despite fundamentally opposing it, and criticizing him for supporting an Arlen Specter presidential bid in 1996: "Arlen Specter, the only pro-choice candidate we’ve seen in that race," Romney said.

Yesterday, at a campaign stop in Kalamazoo, a woman said Romney had "been inconsistent" on his abortion record, Bloomberg reports. Romney had a response at the ready:

“Ronald Reagan was pro-choice before he became pro-life,” he said. “I’m a pro-life person. I’ll be a pro-life president.”

The latest polls in advance of Tuesday's vote have Romney edging out Santorum in his birth state. But after his "couple of Cadillacs" gaffe yesterday at a mostly empty Ford Field stadium, anything is possible -- and a loss in Michigan would "strip the last of the varnish off the image of Mitt Romney as the inevitable GOP presidential nominee," in the words of the AP.