Santorum urges voters to keep him in race

WASHINGTON, April 1 (UPI) -- Rick Santorum said a developing fight with organized labor gave Republicans good reason to think twice about Mitt Romney as their presidential nominee.

Appearing on the Sunday morning news shows, Santorum reiterated his conservative credentials and painted himself as more ready and willing to battle the unions over issues such as a national right-to-work law.

"You will find someone who is very strong in making sure that people have freedom in this country, to contract with their employers instead of having to go through a union," said Santorum, who added he routinely voted against labor despite representing a heavily union congressional district.

Santorum said major unions were already gearing up against him, but predicted it would only add to his reputation as the hard-line conservative he believes can win the White House.

Santorum repeated that the Republicans had never done well when fielding a moderate candidate and that prolonging the primary race would actually help the GOP by forcing President Obama to deal with multiple opponents.

"I would make the argument the shorter this campaign, the shorter this campaign in the general election, the better advantage for, for the, for the Republican nominee because you neutralize President Obama's huge money advantage going into the fall and no matter who the candidate is," Santorum told NBC's "Meet the Press."