Rick Santorum Camp Goes After Mitt Romney On Michigan Delegates

The Santorum campaign intends to seek an investigation from the Republican National Committee into the Michigan GOP's decision to award the state's two at-large delegates to opponent Mitt Romney, arguing the state party bent its own rules governing delegates.

On a conference call with reporters Thursday evening, a campaign official said Santorum will send a letter to the RNC "asking them to immediately intervene."

"We're probably less concerned with the one delegate that happened to move and more concerned that any entity involved in this would go and do something so anti to the American voter of trying to change the rules after a vote."

The campaign official turned the tables on the Romney campaign, calling the Michigan GOP's decision a backroom deal brokered by people "either affiliated with the Romney campaign or who were strong Romney supporters."

The Michigan GOP maintains that it did not change its own rules in order to award Romney two delegates, noting the credentials committee followed a winner-takes-all approach. But the Santorum campaign said the rules would have divided the delegates proportionally, based on Santorum and Romney's close popular vote results.

Asked whether pushing back against the Michigan GOP's decision was a "desperate" move for Santorum, the campaign official replied:

"Desperation is somebody who lost the state and then tried to change the rules after the fact."