In Wisconsin, Santorum compares campaign to Final Four

Rick Santorum, looking for encouragement as Mitt Romney steps ever-closer to the Republican nomination, is casting his campaign as a Final Four surprise.

He compared the race to the Kansas-Ohio State semifinal basketball game Saturday night in which the Kansas Jayhawks surged from behind to beat The Ohio State Buckeyes by 2 points in the NCAA Final Four.

"We aren't even at halftime folks," Santorum told a crowd of supporters while campaigning in Mishicot, Wis., before Tuesday's primary. "Not even half the delegates have been selected in this race."

The Kansas basketball team will go on to play in the NCAA championship game Monday night against Kentucky while Santorum continues to fight against his rival Romney for the GOP nomination. On Sunday, Santorum questioned why Romney is still campaigning in Wisconsin if the nomination is already locked up.

"Why is he spending $4 million in Wisconsin if the race is over?" said Santorum. "It's like telling Kansas last night you're down by 18 points but before halftime. Give up, it's over."

Romney is leading Santorum by about 300 delegates over Santorum. Of course, Santorum aides say that lead is inflated. They say Florida and Arizona, where Romney won, should not have awarded all their delegates to Romney based on particular party rules. And Santorum is still eyeing delegates in caucus states where the allocation process is still ongoing.

Romney has not quite hit the halfway point in the quest for 1,144 delegates, though he'll get there on Tuesday.

"Anybody want to call the Kansas coach and say, 'You know what? For the betterment of the NCAA, give up. It's really better for everybody'," Santorum said. "'We don't want to put - look what you're going to put Ohio State through. They're going to have to run a tough race. They're going to be tired on Monday night, for the betterment of the cause -- give up!' This is silly."

While in Green Bay, Santorum took another shot at Romney, labeling him as the "establishment" after touring the National Railroad Museum.

After referencing the 2008 presidential election where John McCain received the GOP nomination, Santorum said the GOP nomination process "was over quickly," while the Democrats "slogged it out" even though they thought the long progression to find a Democratic nominee would hurt the party.

"How'd it work out for us to cut this short?" Santorum asked. "Cutting it short and getting the wrong candidate is worse than making this a fight for the heart and soul of America and the heart and soul of the Republican Party."