CHICAGO: Republicans in Puerto Rico vote Sunday for delegates to the party's national convention as presidential contenders set their sights on this week's primaries in President Barack Obama's home state of Illinois.
Illinois, where voting will take place on Tuesday, is a new test for the Republican candidates struggling to keep momentum in the race for the nomination to challenge Obama in November.
Polls showed former senator Rick Santorum within striking range in Illinois of frontrunner Mitt Romney, who has a commanding lead in the all-important delegates count but has been weakened by his failure to clinch the nomination.
Romney scheduled a series of events in Illinois Sunday starting with a pancake breakfast in Moline, followed by a gathering with voters in Rockford and a town hall meeting in Vernon Hills.
Puerto Rico, where 20 delegates are at stake, is being courted by Republican candidates, in part because the broader US Hispanic vote is seen as crucial.
Santorum found himself in hot water this week after suggesting that the territory would need to make English its official language before it could become the 51st US state.
English and Spanish are currently recognized there, and Romney told reporters in Puerto Rico where he held a raucous street rally in San Juan Friday night that the island's language status need not be changed in order to seek statehood.
Romney, Santorum and former House speaker Newt Gingrich have all said they would back statehood for Puerto Rico as long as the territory's voters support it in a November referendum.
Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, was in Puerto Rico early Saturday where he visited a local fruit market and told reporters he was "cautiously optimistic that we're going to do well in Puerto Rico."
Santorum meanwhile kept up a frenetic pace, heading Sunday to Louisiana, which holds a primary March 24. He was due back in Illinois for more campaigning Monday.
The fierce Republican campaign came as Obama flew home to Chicago Friday for a lucrative fundraiser with his Democratic Party, upping efforts to pad its reelection campaign warchest.
In Illinois, Santorum took direct aim at Obama in a speech to a suburban Chicago high school, where he drilled into the president's policies.
"You have a president of the United States who does not believe America was a great country until the government took money from you and redistributed it back to others," Santorum said. "America is great because it was founded great."
Santorum, a devout Roman Catholic and opponent of abortion and gay marriage, is seen as the most conservative Republican candidate vying to take on Obama in November, but his ability to win over centrist and independent voters is doubted.
The former Pennsylvania senator is making an aggressive push in Illinois, adding campaign stops and launching ads attacking Romney for raising taxes while governor of Massachusetts and supporting the Wall Street bailout and government control of health care.
Romney has responded by pouring millions of dollars into local ads and moving up plans to campaign in Illinois.
"Right now, under Barack Obama, the federal government is standing in the way of economic recovery," Romney said. "I have a plan to get it out of the way and get the economy growing."
A Santorum victory in Midwestern, industrialized Illinois could prove a far more significant upset than his recent wins in the Deep South states of Alabama and Mississippi, where evangelical voters carry more weight.
It would also give Santorum important momentum going into Louisiana and contests in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington DC on April 3.
Some Missouri counties meanwhile held Republican caucuses Saturday to elect convention delegates.
Santorum won what was largely a beauty contest there last month, but rival Romney has upped his effort, telling Missouri voters they "have a chance to take a step toward changing the direction of our country."
The outcome of the caucuses will not be immediately clear, based on party rules.
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich has vowed to take the battle all the way to the Republican convention in August, ignoring increasing pressure to drop out and consolidate the conservative vote behind Santorum. Also hanging on is libertarian Congressman Ron Paul of Texas, who is trailing far behind the three other contenders.
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