Santorum: Romney wrong on healthcare

HUNTSVILLE, Ala., March 8 (UPI) -- Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum, speaking Thursday in Huntsville, Ala., said President Obama does not believe in America's founding principles.

Obama "takes more and more money from you, takes more and more freedom from you, and thinks he's making your life better," Santorum told a crowd of more than 500 at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, The Huntsville Times reported.

"This election is the most important in your lifetime, maybe in the history of this country," the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania said, adding, "Obamacare is in fact the death knell for freedom, and that's why it must be repealed."

Santorum said repealing Obama's landmark healthcare legislation is the biggest challenge faced by the Republican Party and asserted Mitt Romney, the current front-runner who passed similar legislation when he was governor of Massachusetts, "is singularly the worst person to make that case."

Santorum said Alabama and other parts of the South understand "what made this country great." He and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia say they are the true conservatives in the GOP primary, labeling Romney a moderate who doesn't draw enough of a contrast with Obama and Democrats in Congress.

Romney's campaign said Wednesday the candidate would appear at a rally Friday in Birmingham.