Daily Santorum: In The Ring
One would expect Rick Santorum to be on the attack last night -- freed from his Google 
oppressors or not -- and sure enough he was.
Santorum joined Rick Perry in itching to get under Mitt Romney's skin (Boston Globe)
He went after Perry too. From the AP:
"I didn't run as a Democrat in Texas when it was popular," Santorum said, referring to Perry's past as a Democrat before being elected as governor.
"I ran in 1994, the same year Mitt did in Massachusetts," Santorum continued, referring to Romney's losing U.S. Senate race against Ted Kennedy. "He ran as a liberal."
Rolling Stone called it "GOP Fight Night" and "the ugliest debate yet." Team Santorum too embraced the boxing language, calling the candidate's performance a "knockout" that "cut":
Hogan Gidley, National Communications Director, said: "As Rich Lowry of National Review tweeted, Senator Santorum was the first contender to have a critique of Governor Romney that 'cut,' but Senator Santorum's strong debate performance didn't stop there. Senator Santorum rightly pointed out that Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan would raise taxes on 84% of Americans, pushed Governor Romney to admit he didn't get healthcare costs down while Governor of Massachusetts by instituting Romneycare, and discussing his opposition to the Wall Street Bailouts while both Herman Cain and Governor Perry have flip-flopped on their support of TARP."
Off-topic but perhaps more important: Santorum is still at the bottom in the latest NBC/Marist poll in South Carolina, where he gets 2 percent. Herman Cain leads at 30, followed by Romney, Perry, Gingrich, Paul and Bachmann. But he beats Huntsman!
Full statement and quotes from the Santorum campaign after the jump:
SANTORUM SCORES KNOCKOUTIN VEGAS MAIN EVENT
Santorum shows he has the "Courage to Fight for America"
Las Vegas, NV - At tonight's CNN debate in Las Vegas, NV, Senator Santorum (R-PA) showed again that he is the one conservative ready to take the fight to President Obama.
Hogan Gidley, National Communications Director, said: "As Rich Lowry of National Review tweeted, Senator Santorum was the first contender to have a critique of Governor Romney that 'cut,' but Senator Santorum's strong debate performance didn't stop there. Senator Santorum rightly pointed out that Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan would raise taxes on 84% of Americans, pushed Governor Romney to admit he didn't get healthcare costs down while Governor of Massachusetts by instituting Romneycare, and discussing his opposition to the Wall Street Bailouts while both Herman Cain and Governor Perry have flip-flopped on their support of TARP."
At the conclusion of the debate, the Santorum Campaign handed out copies of both Governor Perry's October 1, 2008 letter in support of the Wall Street Bailouts as well as Herman Cain's October 20, 2008 op-ed in support of TARP - which are contrary to the positions both Perry and Cain attempted to portray during the debate.
ON HERMAN CAIN'S 9-9-9 TAX PLAN:
"84% of Americans would pay more taxes under Herman's plan. When you don't provide standard deductions, when you have an income tax, when you have a sales tax, and as Michele (Bachmann) said, when you have a value-added tax, we are talking about major increases in taxes."
JOBS
"I have put forward the plan that allows for income mobility so that people can rise in society.... I believe that is because we have lost our manufacturing base, we don't have made in America stamped on things anymore."
ON ROMNEY REPEALING OBAMACARE
"You just don't have any credibility on repealing Obamacare. You have no track record that we can trust."
"Mitt, the Governor of Massachusetts just came forward that they have to pick up the job left undone by Romneycare. You focused on the wrong problem with a top down approach."
ON ATTRACTING LATINO VOTERS
"The basic building block is not the individual, it is the family. The Latino community understands the bonds of family and faith. The Latino community understands that someone needs to stand up and defend those institutions."
ON HOUSING CRISIS
"Problem is you all (Herman Cain, Governor Romney, and Governor Perry) supported TARP and the government tried to inject itself and top-down manage the decline. The folks who acted responsibly are paying the price and we need to let markets work."
ON FAITH IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE
"I think voters should pay attention to a candidates values, and the person's faith and what that faith teaches."
ON DEFENSE SPENDING
"I would absolutely not cut one penny of defense spending... the first duty of the president is to protect us. We should have all the resources in place to defend our borders, to engage in foreign countries to succeed. That is the problem with this Administration is that they have political objectives."
ON ELECTABILITY
"I have won the swing state of Pennsylvania twice... I beat a Democratic incumbent in 1994 and in 2000 I won in a year President Bush lost by 5 points, I won by 6."