PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – Rick Santorum learned his status as the new Republican front-runner means he will be facing greater scrutiny from his GOP rivals.

As the latest front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, Rick Santorum was put on the defensive by his opponents, especially Ron Paul, during Wednesday night’s CNN debate.

When questioned about his new television ad that labels Santorum a fake, Paul responded, “Because he’s a fake.”

Paul and Mitt Romney called Santorum a “Washington insider” who voted for things he now says he does not support. Romney kept up the pressure the day after the debate.

“We saw in this case Senator Santorum explain most of the night why he did or voted for things he disagreed with,” Romney said.

Santorum tried to go after Romney on health care. He said Romney’s own plan in Massachusetts will hurt him against President Obama.

“It would be a difficult task for someone who had the model for Obamacare, which is the biggest issue in this race of government control of your lives, to be the nominee of our party,” Santorum said.

But Romney struck back, saying that it was Santorum’s support for Arlen Specter over Pat Toomey in 2004 that gave President Obama the 60th vote he needed to pass health care reform.

“If we had said ‘no’ to Arlen Specter, we would not have Obamacare. So don’t look at me. Take a look in the mirror,” Romney said.

Santorum’s defense of himself often got bogged down in confusing legislative detail.

This allowed former front-runner Newt Gingrich to focus on the President.

“If we’re going to have a debate about who the extremist is on these issues, it’s President Obama,” Gingrich said.

RELATED LINKS
More Local News
More Politics News