Santorum hits rockier road in New Hampshire Former Pennsylvania senator finishes out of the top tier after an almost-upset in Iowa Despite his disappointing finish in Tuesday's primary he vowed to fight on. After congratulating Mitt Romney on his victory, Santorum told a crowd of fervent supporters, "We wanted to respect the process and wanted to respect the fact we would campaign in every state. States good for us and states that are tougher. You are running in a state like New Hampshire that had a lot of folks here and spending time and money we knew it would be tough. With most of the vote counted, Santorum trailed Newt Gingrich for the fifth spot. But he saw opportunities ahead. "We have a campaign that has a message and a messenger that can deliver what we need, which is first and foremost to defeat (President Barack) Obama," Santorum said. Ladies and gentlemen, we have an opportunity in this race. We have an opportunity to be the true conservative. The true conservative who can go out and do what is necessary to win this race. Over the course of seven days, Santorum's conservative positions, including being anti-abortion and anti-same-sex marriage, were met with criticism by a more moderate New Hampshire base. Over the weekend, the former Pennsylvania senator made controversial comments about education, calling President Barack Obama's education goals an agenda of "hubris" and saying he was "outraged" that the president thinks "every child in America should go to college." Santorum and Romney have gone back and forth debating spending -- Romney criticizing Santorum's spending record while in Congress and Santorum criticizing the former Massachusetts governor's spending to support his presidential bid. A CNN/Time/ORC International Poll released Friday showed Santorum and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in a tie for second. "It's not going to be (secured during) this primary or the next," Santorum said.