Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, once a high-profile Ohio supporter of Mitt Romney, defected to Rick Santorum’s campaign Friday, dealing a blow to the former Massachusetts Governor in the important Super Tuesday state. Romney’s camp fought back in a conference call, attacking both DeWine and Santorum and calling the endorsement irrelevant.
DeWine made the announcement Friday.
Preempting the press conference, the Romney campaign held a conference call with former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu, Ohio Rep. Mike Turner, and Hamilton County, Ohio Commissioner Greg Hartmann to attack Santorum and his newest backer.
DeWine’s flip, Sununu argued, wouldn’t change anything.
“Even in New Hampshire, the endorsement of a beloved former governor doesn’t weigh very much,” Sununu quipped.
“So the swing of Mike DeWine from one candidate to another is not a significant thing. You love to get endorsements, but the most important thing you can get from an endorser is their organization,” he went on. “And frankly, as I understand it, attorney generals don’t have that much of a political organization.”
The Associated Press reported that DeWine was upset by an ad run by the pro-Romney Restore Our Future super PAC that attacked Santorum for supporting a bill restoring voting rights to felons who have served their sentences. DeWine, then a senator, also supported that bill, though he was not mentioned in the ad.
Romney surrogates doubled down on that attack in the call. (RELATED: Full coverage of the Santorum campaign)
“He joined with Senator Specter and Senator Mike DeWine in being the only three Republicans to join with Hilary Clinton and Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer in voting for extending voting rights to felons and overriding state rights that prevented that,” said Sununu.
DeWine did not refer to the voting-rights issue when he announced his change of support.
“To be elected President, you have to do more than tear down your opponents,” DeWine said in a statement sent out by the Santorum campaign. “You have to give the American people a reason to vote for you — a reason to hope — a reason to believe that under your leadership, America will be better. Rick Santorum has done that. Sadly, Governor Romney has not.”
“For some time now, it has been clear to me that Rick Santorum should be the Republican nominee for President,” DeWine continued. “To be frank, I’ve had some sleepless nights. I could not, in good conscience, be on record endorsing Governor Romney when I knew in my heart that Rick Santorum was the better candidate.”
Ohio is a crucial swing state and has the second most delegates at stake on Super Tuesday. The latest polls show Santorum with a sizeable lead in the state: a Rasmussen poll released Thursday had him leading Romney by 18 percentage points.
Sununu dismissed the polls, saying the only results that mattered were those on election day.
Turner added that Santorum was not even on the primary ballot in every state — including Virginia — which he said amounted to failing a “basic test of competence” for being president.