Rick Santorum's (sorta) presidential campaign to this point can be summed up as: "Hey, look at me! I'm really really conservative!" Which, in a crowded field that has Santorum in the back of the line, isn't too bad of a strategy. Santorum hasn't been a national political figure for going on five years now -- and even then he was only No. 3 in the GOP Senate leadership. So Santorum has to constantly compete for attention with folks who have national profile and, thus, their every Tweet is dissected. He has done so by making some bold statements (typically involving abortion) and positioning himself to the right of the field on just about everything.

We've reported here on some of his statements in the past couple days praising Rep. Paul Ryan's Republican budget (Photo of Ryan by AP) that would completely reinvent Medicare and Medicaid. But outside the Daily Santorum's All Rick, All the Time tunnel vision, the folks at Talking Points Memo and National Journal point out that Santorum is the only candidate to fully embrace the Ryan plan, with no compunction about miffing the elderly. TPM puts it thusly:

Contrast Santorum's statement with the more mainstream former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's vague praise for, but no direct discussion of, Ryan's plan and you can see the difference between a candidate trying to grab the front of the pack and one vying for attention near the back.

Polling: Back of the pack is better than not in the pack. A new NBC/Wall St. Journal poll tested a quintet of possible presidential candidates, with Santorum not among them. Mitt Romney leads with 21 percent support of Republican primary voters nationally, followed by Mike Huckabee, Donald Trump, Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin wheezes in with 10 percent in fifth.

The Schedule: Following a trip to Colorado Springs (here's some local news coverage on Rick catching "Olympic fever"), Santorum is in Reno, Nev., today to headline a fundraiser for the Washoe County Republican Party.