Santorum's last-minute strategy for Michigan: win Reagan Democrats Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum greets diners at New Beginnings Restaurant in Kentwood, Mich., Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2012. Updated 4 p.m. PERRYSBURG, Ohio - Rick Santorum's final pitch on the day of the Michigan primary was aimed not just at Republicans, but at the proverbial "Reagan Democrats" who swept his Republican hero into office in the 1980s. At a rally with several hundred supporters, Santorum said his message of increasing energy production and revitalizing manufacturing was one that would appeal to conservative Democrats - hopefully those in Michigan, where voters were voting on Tuesday. It's a message that will also carry well into blue-collar Ohio, where Santorum has already done multiple events ahead of the state's March 6 primary. It's a message that is playing well, hopefully very well, today in Michigan. And it's a message, it's a message that we're selling to not just Republicans, but Republicans and Democrats - Reagan Democrats, who are the key for us winning Ohio and Pennsylvania and Michigan back in the day when Ronald Reagan represented a Republican Party that stood for all of the values that made this country great," Santorum said. The term "Reagan Democrats" was coined to describe traditionally Democratic voters, especially white working-class Northerners, who defected to support Reagan in both the 1980 and 1984 elections. Trying to win over those Democrats - who could help hand Santorum a narrow win over his rival Mitt Romney in Michigan - is the rationale his campaign has been providing for sending a robocall to Democrats in the state. Romney - who the robocall targets in reminding voters that he opposed the auto bailout of Detroit - has called the strategy "a real effort to kidnap our primary process." Santorum's response? Romney's just a bully. "That's what bullies do -- you hit them back and they whine," he told reporters after the rally. He said Romney had no trouble with non-Republicans voting in New Hampshire, where they made up 53 percent of the electorates. Watch Santorum's lighthearted, yet stinging, response to being asked if the Michigan primary is "must win." Romney spokesman Ryan Williams, who attended Santorum's event, said, "Senator Santorum obviously doesn't want to discuss his robocalls today. He got called out on them and is making dishonest comparisons between his outreach efforts to President Reagan. Williams also noted that the New Hampshire primary is only open to Republicans and independents, meaning Romney's support came from those groups and Democrats could not have voted for Romney in that primary.