PHOENIX, Arizona—Mitt Romney stepped up his attacks on Rick Santorum after the former Pennsylvania senator's stumbles in last night's CNN debate, criticizing his decision to vote for bills he disagreed with.
Romney smelled blood in the water last night when Santorum said he was "taking one for the team," by voting for bills like 'No Child Left Behind' and earmarks like the infamous 'Bridge to Nowhere.' Today he pounced.
"We saw Senator Santorum explain most of the night why he did or voting for things he disagreed with," Romney said. "And he talked about this being 'taking one for the team.' I want to know which team he was taking it for. My team is the American people, not the insiders in Washington, and I’ll fight for the people of America."
"I don’t know if I had ever seen a politician explain in so many ways why he voted against his principles," Romney added.
Speaking to a friendly crowd at the Associated Builders and Contractors National Board of Directors meeting, Romney took aim at unions, saying he vetoed "card check" legislation as governor in Massachusetts and would fight to preserve secret union ballots.
Romney also pledged to remove the preference for union businesses in government contracting, drawing a standing ovation from the anti-union group.
"If I become President of the United States, I will curb the practice we have in this country of giving union bosses an unfair advantage in contracting," he said. "One of the first things I will do — actually on Day One — is I will end the government's favoritism towards unions in contracting on federal projects and end contract labor agreements..."
After listing other instances of favoritism to unions, Romney said he wouldn't "bow" to unions.
"We’re going to change that policy and make sure that instead of having a president who bows to the demands of special interests — in this case union interests — that we have a president who bows to the interests of the American people," Romney said.