Rick Santorum: Onward to Michigan After Tuesday Trifecta [VIDEO]

After Rick Santorum's clean sweep of the Tuesday's GOP primary contests, the former Pennsylvania senator is heading to Michigan where he hopes to duplicate the effort.

Santorum said Wednesday his campaign will focus on Michigan after routing Mitt Romney and his Republican rivals in the Colorado and Minnesota caucuses and Missouri's non-binding primary.

The results will give Santorum the momentum he needs to compete in Michigan, a state that considers Romney a favorite son, but could warm to Santorum's Midwestern blue-collar conservative style. On Morning Joe, Santorum offered a taste of his strategy by capitalizing on Romney's gaffe about not being concerned for the very poor.

We think Michigan is a great place for us to plant our flag and talk about jobs and manufacturing and giving opportunities for everyone in America to rise, Santorum said.

As Santorum gets a fresh boost from his Tuesday trifecta, he is already honing in on one of Romney's primary selling points: the former Massachusetts governor is the strongest candidate to take down President Barack Obama. Santorum is already looking beyond the primary, saying Tuesday that he is not the conservative alternative to Romney, but the conservative alternative to Barack Obama.

Romney, in Santorum's view, cannot articulate a clear distinction between himself and Obama on the size of government and health care.

Mitt Romney is not the best choice to go up against Barack Obama on the central issue of the day, which is government oppressing and taking away our freedoms, Santorum said. We need someone who's got a strong record to go up against President Obama on the biggest big government issues of the day and, unfortunately, Gov. Romney has sided with the Obama administration.

Michigan is holding its primary Feb. 28, a week after Arizona's Feb. 22. Tuesday's results has raised the stakes in these two contests being held before the March 6 Super Tuesday contests, which include Ohio and a slew of Southern states.

Super Tuesday is going to be a very, very big day for us, Santorum said. We've got organizations developing in every one of those states on Super Tuesday.

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