Rising Santorum targeted by GOP rivals in Iowa

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Surg­ing into top-tier con­tention, Repub­li­can Rick San­to­rum came under sharp crit­i­cism from rivals hop­ing to slow his momen­tum two days before Iowa’s kick­off cau­cuses. The for­mer Penn­syl­va­nia sen­a­tor defended his record in Wash­ing­ton and cast him­self as the most elec­table con­ser­v­a­tive alter­na­tive to front-runner Mitt Romney.