Santorum Cites a Local Legend HILTON HEAD, S.C. - Rick Santorum is facing questions about supporting earmarks during his time in Congress. He offered up a decidedly South Carolinian response on Thursday, boiling down his defense to two words: Strom Thurmond. A leader of a local Tea Party group asked Mr. Santorum at a campaign stop here to explain how he could consider himself a fiscal conservative when he supported pet projects for Pennsylvania while serving in the House and Senate. The criticism of Mr. Santorum has been amplified in advertising campaigns by Gov. Rick Perry and Representative Ron Paul of Texas. "Certainly Strom Thurmond did a whole lot as a senator from South Carolina," Mr. Santorum said, drawing a comparison to his votes and those of Mr. Thurmond, who represented the state for half a century, and whose name is on buildings, streets and monuments here. I always voted for lower and lower budgets. That's really the test. In the next breath, Mr. Santorum turned the question to earmarks, a phrase he acknowledged "gets my goat." "Earmarks, as an issue, were created by John McCain," he said. The reason John McCain created the earmark controversy is because he needed to say he was tough on spending. He wanted to run as a conservative, so he created an issue that had very little to do with the deficit. For several minutes, Mr. Santorum opened a discussion about how earmarks represent only a fraction of the spending problem in Washington. He said the conversation over earmarks had masked the bigger challenge of entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare that are at the root of the country's debt burden. "We're focused on earmarks and it's wrong," said Mr. Santorum, who is trying to gain momentum for his Republican presidential bid. We're ignoring the elephant in the room. He closed his answer with a plea to the Tea Party, declaring: "I'll keep faith with them and say no earmarks, but I need the Tea Party to keep faith with me. I need them to go out and help me educate the American people if I'm president of the United States about what the problems are in this country that are going to bankrupt this country. Mr. Santorum talked bluntly about overhauling Social Security and renewed his call for imposing means testing on beneficiaries. He pointedly tells audiences, "62 is not old!" and said too many people are taking early benefits. People with higher incomes, he said, should receive even less. As he traveled across South Carolina on Thursday, Mr. Santorum urged voters to dismiss the conventional wisdom that Mitt Romney has an upper hand in the nominating contest. He said the party can win back the White House only by offering a "clear contrast" with President Obama. "We need contrasts," Mr. Santorum said, "not just a paler shade of what we have." Kate Keep, a leader of the Hilton Head Island Tea Party group who asked Mr. Santorum the initial question, applauded his answer and his focus on overhauling entitlement programs. "Tea Party people are very independent people, but I would like to see Rick Santorum win our primary and I'll be voting for him," Ms. Keep said. I've been leaning that way and today I was convinced.