Rick Santorum has criticized Ron Paul
for airing robocalls in Iowa claiming Santorum supports abortion
rights and opposes gun rights.
“Ron Paul is disgusting,” Santorum
told
a handful of Fox News reporters on Tuesday morning, just hours before
the start of the Iowa caucuses.
(Related: Mitt
Romney “dissed” Evangelicals; Rick Santorum to win in Iowa, Bob
Vander Plaats says.)
Paul on Monday called Santorum “very
liberal.”
“Have you looked at his record? Go
look at his record. He spends too much money. He wasn't leading the
charge to slash the budgets and vote against big government,” Paul
is quoted as saying by The
State Column.
The verbal sparring comes as the GOP
rivals fight for a second place ticket out of Iowa.
Meanwhile, The Fix, a blog of
The
Washington Post, quoted Paul campaign chairman Jesse Benton
as saying that “it sounds like Rick Santorum can't take the heat
and is wilting under scrutiny.”
(Related: Ron
Paul reiterates claim that an AIDS patient is “a victim of his own
lifestyle.”)