Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum speaks at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, Thursday, March 8, 2012, in Huntsville, Alabama. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum speaks at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, Thursday, March 8, 2012, in Huntsville, Alabama. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
An Apollo V rocket hangs above Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum as he speaks at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, Thursday, March 8, 2012, in Huntsville, Alabama. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Supporters listen to Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum during a rally at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, Thursday, March 8, 2012, in Huntsville, Alabama. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
PELHAM, Ala. (AP) ? Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum appealed Thursday for votes in Alabama's upcoming primary, calling the state the "heart of conservatism."
During appearances in the Birmingham suburb of Pelham and earlier in Huntsville, the former Pennsylvania senator said he was the true conservative presidential candidate who would present the best contrast to Democratic President Barack Obama in November.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is too moderate and too much like Obama, having enacted a state health care package that became the model for Obama's national overhaul, Santorum said. Rival Newt Gingrich also has backed health insurance mandates, he said.
"Why would this area of the country put forward a candidate that gives away the most important issue in this election?" Santorum said in a crowded banquet room at a civic building. With his arms spread wide, he added: "There's one option not to give it away."
"We believe in you!" a woman called from the back of the room earlier.
"Unlike President Obama, I believe in you," Santorum said to loud applause.
Santorum was waging a campaign on two fronts: to emerge over Gingrich as conservatives' preferred alternative to Romney, and to derail Romney's march toward the GOP presidential nomination.
Santorum and Gingrich were campaigning hard to win Southern states, including Alabama and Mississippi, that will vote in the coming days.
In Huntsville, Santorum drew big ovations from hundreds gathered at a state-owned museum with calls for increased federal spending on defense and space programs and less spending on social welfare programs.
Standing under a Saturn V rocket hanging from the roof of the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, he recalled watching the moon landing as a child. He also praised Huntsville's importance to the Apollo missions and NASA in general.
"As an American, I want to say thank you, Huntsville," Santorum said. "Thank you for the work you've done."
He pledged to spare the defense budget, if elected.
"I will not cut the defense budget while I'm president," he said. "With a nuclear Iran, who knows what could be coming to this country."
Forty-seven Republican convention delegates are at stake in Alabama's Republican primary on Tuesday. Romney visits Alabama on Friday. Gingrich visited earlier in the week, including a stop at the space museum.
Decatur resident Robert Couey, who attended both space center events, said Thursday that he doesn't support Romney and contended that Romney isn't conservative enough. Couey said he likes Santorum, adding that he thinks Gingrich has been inconsistent on issues.
"He speaks with conviction," Couey said of Santorum. "Gingrich is intelligent. He has the background but look at ... all the things he's said."
Huntsville resident Gay Nyberg said she is down to deciding between Santorum and Gingrich. Romney, she said, isn't for her.
"I think the other guy is not a true conservative," she said, "and I don't know that I can trust him to represent me."
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