Rick Santorum
— According to recent public polling, Missouri establishment favorites are losing ground to their anti-establishment challengers.
According to the Democratic polling company Public Policy Polling, social conservative Rick Santorum leads establishment favorite Mitt Romney by 11 points. Romney has trumpeted support of several leading Missouri Republicans, including former Sen. Jim Talent, Sen. Roy Blunt, and several members of the Missouri legislature.
The poll was taken before Santroum visited Missouri, where he attracted nearly 300 to a rally in St. Charles.
In the same poll, tea party favorite Bill Randles led establishment pick Dave Spence by three points. The Spence campaign points out that they have been in the race less than three months, and are just rolling out a new ad hoping to boost their name identification with Missouri voters.
And in the Senate race, though St. Louis businessman John Brunner is beginning to close the gap, former State Treasurer Sarah Steelman leads Brunner and Rep. Todd Akin by nine points.
Brunner has risen nearly 12 points since PPP’s last poll in September, before he spent some $700,000 on television and radio ads.
The poll, taken from January 27-29, has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.1 percent.
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email: eli [at] politicmo.com | phone: 417.597.3873 | twitter: @eyokley 
Santorum has a really bad record as an economic conservative. He has supported ear marks on a number of occasions. He also has a terrible record on trade. He has supported a number of tariffs that would raise cost on consumers. He sponsored a bill that would raise tariffs and then given those tariff revenues to a special interest group.
http://www.examiner.com/bloomington-economic-policy-in-springfield/why-rick-santorum-worries-me-on-trade