Columbus, Ohio (CNN) – It had been a pretty tame week for Republican Rick Santorum in terms of new attack lines on opponent Mitt Romney, but that ended Saturday morning. Santorum, the former senator from Pennsylvania, came out swinging, saying Romney's efforts to rescue the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games were not all he has made them out to be.

“One of the things he talks about the most is how he heroically showed up on the scene and bailed out and resolved the problems of the Salt Lake City Olympic games,†Santorum said, as a few in the tea party audience chuckled. “He heroically bailed out the Salt Lake City Olympic games by heroically going to Congress and asking them for tens of millions of dollars to bail out the Salt Lake Olympic Games - in an earmark. In an earmark for the Salt Lake Olympic Games.â€
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(CNN) - Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul gained 83 votes on Saturday after one county in eastern Maine held its caucuses.

Washington County had delayed its voting one week ago due to bad weather.
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Columbus, Ohio (CNN) – Rick Santorum drew applause from Ohio tea party voters - but perhaps raised some eyebrows, too - when he suggested Saturday that President Barack Obama leads based on a theology different from that in the Bible.

It left some wondering whether he was implying that Obama subscribes to a religion other than Christianity.
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(CNN) - An Arizona sheriff building a national profile stepped down Saturday from a state leadership position with Mitt Romney's presidential campaign after a newspaper published allegations that he threatened to deport a former boyfriend.

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu denied the allegations during a press conference Saturday. He was co-chair of Romney's campaign in Arizona and is a candidate for Congress in the state's fourth district.
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Peachtree City, Georgia (CNN) – Newt Gingrich rallied Friday night in Georgia, where his 20-year congressional career began and where the candidate suggested his presidential prospects could end.

"I would hope to win here and I think, given the years that I spent both helping represent the state in Congress but also helping grow the Republican Party, I think I have some reasonably good likelihood of winning here," said Gingrich, who will make three campaign stops in metro Atlanta Saturday.
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(CNN) - In his weekly address, President Barack Obama spoke on U.S. manufacturing competitiveness, while Washington Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers used the Republican response to hammer the budget proposal he sent to Congress on Monday.

The president made no mention of his budget, and in his remarks - taped at the Washington state Boeing plant he visited Friday - said that the U.S. is making progress toward becoming a more desirable place for manufacturing.
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Washington (CNN) - There is a Senate tradition dating back to 1965. One specific desk in the Senate chamber has a drawer filled with candy. The senator assigned to that desk is responsible for keeping candy in it and providing sweets to all his or her colleagues.

Rick Santorum had the desk with the candy drawer, yet all that sugar didn't win him any endorsements for his presidential bid from former Senate colleagues.

(CNN) – Bill Burton finds he's a lot busier. "There's definitely more interest and energy around our effort," Burton tells CNN Radio.

Last week, Obama for America 2012 manager Jim Messina let the word go forth it was OK by President Obama for his backers to give unlimited contributions to Priorities USA Action, a Super PAC co-founded by Burton.
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Washington (CNN) - In an unusual move Friday, six members of the House Ethics Committee recused themselves from the investigation of Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, after outside counsel hired to review the case recommended they no longer participate in the probe.

A letter from Alabama Republican Jo Bonner read on the House floor requested that House Speaker John Boehner appoint six new members to continue the inquiry, effectively replacing himself, four additional Republicans, and one Democrat two and a half years into the investigation.
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(CNN) - The Supreme Court has blocked enforcement of a ruling by Montana's highest court that upholds the state's century-long restrictions on independent political spending by outside groups in election campaigns.

An order was issued late Friday.
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