STEUBENVILLE -- Rick Santorum accused the Obama administration of devastating the economy through its "radical economic policies,'' as he rallied voters in this key Super Tuesday state.

Speaking to an enthusiastic crowd of roughly 500, swelled by students from nearby Franciscan University of Steubenville, Mr. Santorum contended that the administration was stifling growth through unreasonable regulation of coal and other fossil fuels.

"You have a gem here in this college,'' he said, acknowledging the students in the crowd. "[It is] a beacon of light ... rekindling of the flame of authentic Catholic doctrine.''

Mr. Santorum tried to strike other common chords with his audience as he reminded them of his grandfather's work as a coal miner and the common economic legacy he shared with a region just across the Ohio River from the district he onnce represented in Congress.

"Affordable low cost energy really drove this country,'' he said. "This area of the country is rich in every rich in tradition and rich in understanding how energy drove the economy.''

He denounced EPA regulations on emission that he said would force the closing of coal fired power plants and he contended that twas administration was unreasonably aggressive in regulating the natural gas fracking industry that has burgeoned in the region.

"It's important is understand that this area of the country has suffered dramatically, [because of the] devastation of radical energy policies,'' he said.

Referring to the administration refusal to grant an immediate permit to the Keystone Pipeline, a proposal that would send Canadian oil from tar sands to U.S,. refineries, he said, "The president says ... send it to China; I don't care.''

As Mr. Santorum returned to his critique of the administration, he contended that his earlier criticisms "phony theology'' had been distorted by "less erudite members of the national press corps.''

He referred to the attention drawn by to his remarks on the other side of the sate over the weekend when he argued that the administration's environmental approach was the product of a "phony theology.''

Later he said he was not questioning the president's religion but a misplaced agenda setting the earth rather than human beings as the core concern of environmental regulation. On Monday, he repeatedly argued that concern over global warming was rooted in "political science,'' rather than actual evidence.

The controversy didn't deter the former senator from discussing religion as he contended that the government was planking its own drive for power ahead of the concerns of private institutions such as religion.

"Government has been able to centralize power is by weakening the institutions that people rely on in their lives,'' he said.

The former senator argued that the recent controversy over whether religious institutions should be required to pay for health care coverage for contraception was part of a continuing pattern. He noted that the administration in ints first year had proposed a limit on charitable tax deductions for wealthier taxpayers and argued that that was evidence of a governmental effort to consolidate power by weakening other institutions.

The House Democrats haven't trigger much of a response from the Corbett administration by bashing the governor's lack of a transportation plan, so on Friday, they unleashed the satire approach.

House Minority Leader Frank Dermody is proposing to rename the Department of Transportation, so that it is instead called the "Department of Deferred Maintenance." 

"I acknowledge that this bill might be seen as a symbolic gesture. Some might even call it frivolous," wrote Dermody in the co-sponsorship memo helpfully forwarded to reporters by his spokesman.

He continued: "What I consider frivolous – even dangerous – is the current course of prolonged inaction on an urgent issue that threatens the lives and economic livelihoods of Pennsylvanians."

The governor said in his budget address that transportation funding was "too large" for the annual budget, and should be considered separately. However, he offered no clues as to which of his commission's funding recommendations he might support for raising billions for road and bridge repairs.

The full co-sponsorship memo is after the jump.

Photo: Broken bridge across the Susquehanna River, Harrisburg Patriot-News

Rick Santorum's challenge right now is "defining himself positively before others rush to disqualify him," wrote Dan Balz in the WashPost over the weekend. (No jokes please.)

To the good, that means he's enjoying big crowds responding to his conservative message, including thousands at a megachurch outside Atlanta yesterday. This morning at 10, he's due just across the border from Western Pa in Steubenville, Ohio.

He's zooming up the national polls, and is crushing his rivals in Texas, according to a Texas Tribune poll, taking 45% of the likely Republican vote to 18% for Newt Gingrich and 16% for Mitt Romney. (Due to redistricting woes, the state's primary may not be until late May.)

But the definitions against him are also rising. The NYT rounds up some of his more eye-opening remarks lately:

Mr. Santorum, who is surging in national polls, accused President Obama of “a phony theology,” likened public schools to “factories” and criticized prenatal testing as a way of encouraging society to “cull the ranks of the disabled.”

Santorum lately compared a second Obama term to the "great peril" of WWII, so Buzzfeed looked up the time he compared Senate Democrats to Hitler in 2005.

People from his home state sure have opinions. Here's one from the John Baer at the Philly Daily News:

HERE'S A THOUGHT for Presidents Day: President Santorum.

Did you just shiver?

How in the name of all that's holy is Rick Santorum atop national polls for the Republican nomination?

The Romney camp is still painting him as a lifetime bureaucrat (as opposed to the former Mass. governor's private sector experience), and released to reporters a list of cultural events the year Santorum first ran for Congress. (Included: the introduction of the Nintendo Gameboy and the debut of "Seinfeld.")

Pa political expert Terry Madonna's phone has been ringing off the hook with Santorum calls, so the F&M Center for Politics and Public Affairs put together all their Santorum work here. He also released this list of Santorum votes:

Santorum votes

1) NAFTA-No
2) Brady Handgun Purchase-No
3) Cut Missile Funds-No
4) Balanced Budget Amendment-Yes
5) Pass Line Item Veto-Yes
6) Reduce Medicare Growth-Yes
7) Increase Minimum Wage-Yes
8) Welfare Reform-Yes
9) Gay Employment Rights-No
10)Cuban Embargo-Yes
11)Remove Clinton for Perjury-Yes
12)Remove Clinton for Obstruction-Yes
13)Approve Bush Tax Cuts-Yes
14)Campaign Finance Reform-No
15)Permit ANWAR Development-Yes
16)Bar Gays in Boy Scouts-Yes
17)Force in Iraq-Yes
18)Prescription Drug Benefit-No
19)Gun Show Background Check-No
20)NATO War Serbia-No
21)Nuclear Test Ban Treaty-No
22)Support Roe v. Wade- No
23)Ban Partial Birth Abortion-Yes
24)Assault Weapons Ban-No
25)Bar Same Sex Marriage-Yes

Plus more for wonks only: American Spectator gives perspective to his vote in favor of Medicare Part D in 2003.

It's eight days until the crucial Michigan primary. Romney seems to be gaining momentum there, according to NYT poll watcher Nate Silver.

Santorum's public schedule through Wednesday after the jump:

Good morning. While we expect our federal/state/local govt readers are probably just getting out of bed right now, brewing coffee and watching C-Span, we press forward . . .

The P-G's Don Hopey leads the front page today with a story about politics and the state Department of Environmental Protection. The Corbett admin let go the Pittsburgh area's longtime DEP legal counsel and replaced her with an attorney tied to the GOP, William Darr, but he resigned before submitting conflict-of-interest paperwork (likely tying him to the coal industry). Here's Don:

Mr. Darr, a veteran attorney in private practice in Indiana County, had been that county's Republican chairman, a member of the Republican State Committee and chair of the party's southwestern Pennsylvania caucus, positions he relinquished to take the DEP job.

But he resigned the appointment six weeks later, on Nov. 10, rather than submit required federal conflict-of-interest paperwork, said individuals familiar with the workings of the DEP regional office. The paperwork would have shown that he is eligible to receive a pension from Consol because of his legal work in the 1980s and 1990s for the Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal Co., which Consol bought in 1998.