thought: 'Oh, this is going to be a sleepy little primary.' You know we have one of the candidates who claims a lineage here in the state of Michigan, although I do believe he was governor of Massachusetts, not Michigan," Santorum told an audience on Monday.

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Romney has at least once framed himself as the underdog in his home state.

"I think I can show that I can fight real hard and come from behind and I think the people as they're focused on my campaign and my candidacy and my plan to get people working again,” he said.

The latest Mitchell-Rosetta Stone poll out Monday showed Santorum had pulled into the lead, 37 percent to Romney's 35 percent. Newt Gingrich,Mich., bucked that trend.

Of all the ads the panelists said they have watched, the one that stuck out in their minds was one in which Romney was selling himself as the hometown hero.

"Really, the most effective ad I've seen is the one with Romney where they show him with his Michigan roots in his truck," said panelist Lorie Steinhauer. Her thoughts were quickly echoed by recreational fisherman and newcomer to politics John Piotrowski.

"People in Michigan, we're going to go, 'yeah, I can relate to that,'" Piotrowski said.

Michiganders quickly became wise to the practice of allowing super PACs -- the unregulated, uncoordinated groups that support or oppose candidates -- to handle the dirty work on the airwaves.

"When you see an ad sponsored by a candidate ... it's showing what