WASHINGTON -- Rick Santorum bowled a turkey. And he wants Wisconsin voters to know about it.
The former Pennsylvania senator won Louisiana's GOP presidential primary on Sunday, and now it's on to Wisconsin, where polls have former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leading.
Santorum is already trying to play up his blue-collar Pennsylvania background to connect with voters in the Badger State, noting on CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday that he is a pretty good bowler.
"The reaction I got yesterday in traveling round in Bellevue and Sheboygan, and up here in Green Bay, was a great outpouring of support," he said. "And you know what? Yesterday -- I don’t know if you saw this -- but actually I was bowling in Sheboygan yesterday with a bunch of folks at a tournament and threw three strikes in a row. That's a turkey. That tells you that you’ve got someone here who can relate to the voters in Wisconsin, just like those of us in western Pennsylvania who grew up in the bowling lanes."
Santorum acknowledged that he was down in the polls and claimed he was being outspent "60 to 1" in Wisconsin. Politico reported Friday that Romney and his allied super PAC were outspending Santorum and his by a rate of about 55 to 1 in the state.
Santorum also recently visited Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers, even though he is a devoted fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He has been working to contrast himself with Romney, who famously commented that he has "great friends" who are NASCAR team owners and "good friends" who own professional football teams.
“I don’t know any owners of the cars,” Santorum told supporters at the Sheboygan bowling alley. “What I do know, though, I know when you sponsor a NASCAR car ... you’re supporting a sport that people want to watch, so you’re out there on the side of the folks that you want to relate to.”
Santorum also took a shot at President Barack Obama's bowling skills, joking that he wouldn't need bumpers.
In 2008, Obama went to a bowling lane while campaigning ahead of the Pennsylvania primaries and scored a 37 without using bumpers.