Rick Santorum claims Mitt Romney conceals truth about federal health insurance mandate

Rick Santorum launched a fresh attack Sunday on Mitt Romney, accusing him of not telling the truth about his support for a federal health insurance mandate based on Massachusetts law.
"Governor Romney actually advocated for the Massachusetts model that President Obama adopted with mandates, and then went out on the campaign trail and repeatedly didn't tell the truth,'' the former Pennsylvania senator said on NBC's "Meet the Press.'' "He went out and misled the voters that somehow or other he was not for mandates on a federal level, when in fact he was'', says Boston.com.

Photo: AP photo

Battling anew to be Romney's main conservative challenger, Gingrich and Rick Santorum both spoke at an energy forum in Mississippi and took questions on religion in public life at a presidential forum in Birmingham, Ala. They took sharp aim at President Barack Obama, with Santorum labeling the president's foreign policy "pathetic" and Gingrich taunting Obama as "President Algae" for an energy speech in which Obama spoke of research that would allow oil and gas to be developed from algae one day.
Gingrich has focused his campaign in recent weeks on rising gas prices, promising to bring the price to $2.50 per Advertisement
gallon if elected. The Southern showdown came as new polling showed a steep drop in Obama's approval ratings amid escalating prices at the pump and renewed turbulence in the Middle East, informs San Jose Mercury News.

The Republican contenders pointed toward the next primaries as a pair of national polls indicated Obama's support has fallen after recent gains. A Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 46 percent of those surveyed approve the way the president is handling his job, and 50 percent disapprove. A New York Times/CBS poll found 41 percent approval, and 47 percent disapproval.
Evangelical voters play an outsized role in both state primaries. Four years ago, 77 percent of GOP primary voters in Alabama and 69 percent in Mississippi said they were born again or evangelicals, a group that Romney has struggled to bring to his side in the primaries. His best showing in a contested primary was 38 percent in Florida, according to Daily Herald.