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Santorum Tells Mich. Tea Partiers He Can Beat Obama

SONARI GLINTON, BYLINE: And I'm Sonari Glinton traveling with the Rick Santorum campaign in Kalamazoo, Michigan. While Mitt Romney was rocking out to the sounds of Kid Rock, Rick Santorum supporters were being entertained by founding father Patrick Henry.

LAWRENCE WESCO: (as Patrick Henry) I know not what course others might take, but as for me give me liberty or give me death.

GLINTON: That was actually 19-year-old Lawrence Wesco of Mishawaka, Indiana. The difference in the celebrity guests was symbolic of the difference between the Romney and Santorum campaigns. That difference, Santorum says, is what can beat president Obama in the fall.

RICK SANTORUM: He will have more money and he will have the media on his side. So let's look at the candidate with had the least money and did the most with it in winning elections.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)

GLINTON: Santorum was speaking at the Heritage Christian Academy, and in the crowded gymnasium he took one last chance to burnish his Tea Party cred.

SANTORUM: There may be a few Tea Party people here. And I want to thank the Tea Party for resurrecting a document that had been out of fashion and favor for a long time. Oh, this little document called the Constitution of the United States.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)

GLINTON: Santorum says a Michigan victory for him wouldn't just be a defeat for Mitt Romney, it would be a defeat for the Republican establishment.

Sonari Glinton, NPR News, Kalamazoo, Michigan. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Sonari Glinton is a NPR Business Desk Correspondent based at our NPR West bureau. He covers the auto industry, consumer goods, and consumer behavior, as well as marketing and advertising for NPR and Planet Money.