Romney, Santorum each claim conservative mantle before Illinois primary A hundred miles west in Dixon, Rick Santorum tried to channel the spirit and vision of Ronald Reagan during a stop in the former president's boyhood hometown, hoping to give his insurgent campaign a last-minute infusion of energy. As they journeyed across Illinois, Romney and Santorum each cast himself as the rightful heir to Reagan's conservative mantle before voters here have their say Tuesday in what has been a tumultuous and increasingly caustic nominating contest. Even as his campaign and its allies pummel Santorum in television advertisements here, Romney looked past his chief Republican rival in a speech castigating Obama as having "attacked the cornerstone of American prosperity: economic freedom." Romney criticized, in particular, what he called overly burdensome regulations and taxes. Romney framed his hypothetical general-election race vs. Obama as a choice not of party and personality but of principle. "Our economic freedom will be on the ballot," he said, "and I intend to offer the American people a clear choice." Santorum was working vigorously Monday to deny Romney that opportunity. Campaigning in the northern Illinois town where Reagan grew up, Santorum attacked Romney as a man who will say anything to win the nomination and who lacks the conservative convictions that he said Republican voters should be looking for. He urged voters to make their voices heard on behalf of the values Reagan espoused as president and, in doing so, to help prevent Romney from becoming the party's nominee. "A lot is at stake [Tuesday]," he said. As he has done throughout the campaign in Illinois, he attacked Romney for enacting a health-care law in Massachusetts that included a mandate that everyone purchase insurance or pay a penalty. Calling repeal of Obama's health-care law the No. 1 issue of the campaign, Santorum said: "Why would the Republican Party nominate someone on the most important issue of the day - freedom, Reagan's freedom - why would we take that off the table?