Poll: Santorum closes on Romney in Arizona

Rick Santorum has wiped out Mitt Romney’s lead in Arizona, according to the latest survey from the American Research Group.

Romney took 39 percent in the ARG poll, followed by Santorum at 35 percent, Newt Gingrich at 15 percent and Ron Paul at 11 percent.

 
The poll has a four percent margin of error.
 
{mosads}If the poll is not an outlier, it’s a shocking development just three days before the Feb. 28 Arizona primary.
 
The poll was conducted on Feb. 23 and Feb. 24, after Santorum was battered in Wednesday night’s debate in Arizona, as Romney and Paul took turns hammering the former Pennsylvania senator over his record as a Congressman.
 
Santorum had been fading in most post-debate polls, and Romney’s strongest hold has been on Arizona.
 
The Real Clear Politics average of polls shows Romney in the lead in Arizona by more than nine percent, with the only other post-debate survey taken by Rasmussen, which shows Romney up by 13.
 
Still, it’s a worrying sign for the Romney campaign, as the former Massachusetts governor failed to build on the momentum he had coming out of the debate.
 
Romney delivered a flat speech at a nearly empty Ford Field on Friday, that his campaign had billed as a major economic policy event, and which instead provided new attack lines for his rivals.
 
Romney reiterated his widely-panned comment that the trees in Michigan are “just the right height,” and provided additional ammunition for those that claim his wealth makes him out of touch, by saying that his wife drives “a couple of Cadillacs.”
 
Romney spent the week leading up to the debate clawing his way back into contention in Michigan, the only other state that will vote on Feb. 28, where Santorum briefly topped the polls in what many say is a must-win state for Romney.