Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum accused Fox News of “shilling” for GOP front-runner Mitt Romney during a contentious interview Tuesday on the “Kilmeade and Friends” radio show. 
 
 “He’s had a 10-to-1 money advantage,” Santorum said of Romney. “He’s had all the organizational advantages. He has Fox News shilling for him every day, no offense Brian, but I see it. And yet, he can’t seal the deal because he just doesn’t have the goods to be able to motivate the Republican base to win this election.” 
 
 Host Brian Kilmeade, who is also a co-host of the “Fox and Friends” morning show on the cable network, objected to Santorum’s suggestion that Fox News — the dominant source of television news for conservative viewers — is biased toward Romney. 
 
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 “On Fox News shilling for Mitt Romney 24 hours a day, I totally disagree with that,” Kilmeade said. 
 
 That led to a heated confrontation between the pair, during which Santorum objected to Fox News orienting its coverage around the race for delegates: 
 
 Santorum: “Brian, look, I love you guys ...” Kilmeade: “No, you can feel the way you want, I’m just telling you, there’s no way I agree with that, and you’ve been on as much as anyone ...” Santorum: “I can tell you, we watch the coverage there, and look, you guys are allowed to cover what you want to cover — I can tell you we want to make sure a conservative is nominated, and we’re going to go out there and nominate on mathematics, we’re not going to focus on the process — ” Kilmeade: “You don’t want us to add up delegates?” Santorum: “We want to focus on the issues that are going to help us win, and that’s what our campaign is going to be about.” Kilmeade: “I will say this, Mitt Romney’s people respond when we request, and we’ve been requesting you on this show for three months minimum, and we’ve gotten nothing but, ‘Yeah, we’ll see,’ which blows me away.” 
 
 
 
 
 
 The GOP hopeful went on to say that he appreciated the opportunity to appear on Kilmeade’s radio program and would meet with his staff to discuss being booked more frequently on the show. 
 
 Santorum has said repeatedly that he believes the media are oriented against his campaign. During an appearance earlier Tuesday on Fox News, the former Pennsylvania senator said that the media favor Romney because he would be the weaker candidate against President Obama. 
 
 “I understand why the media wants Romney — because they know that Obama can beat Romney,” Santorum said. “We need a nominee who’s a Reagan conservative.” 
 
 Santorum has also accused the popular Drudge Report news website of cheerleading for Romney. The Drudge Report had linked to an article reporting Santorum had hung up on a Cincinnati-area radio station out of frustration, a claim Santorum later denied. 
 
 “That’s baloney. I was driving and we lost the call and I called him back two minutes later and we finished the conversation. Drudge, again showing for Romney, gets the facts wrong,” Santorum told WLW radio in Cincinnati. ||||| It's been called the "happy hour" debate -- the 5 p.m. face-off that precedes the prime-time showdown among the top-polling Republican presidential candidates in Cleveland. 
 
 But the stakes for those invited to "happy hour" could be even higher. 
 
 Seven lower-polling candidates were invited to the 5 p.m. ET Fox News/Facebook debate stage. The smaller pond, it's an opportunity for at least one of the candidates to make a big splash -- and start the buzz that builds a fledgling bid into a serious campaign. 
 
 "An underdog is going to emerge from this first debate," Craig Shirley, a conservative strategist and Reagan biographer, said. 
 
 Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who flamed out of the 2012 race after an infamous debate gaffe, is looking for redemption. Former New York Gov. George Pataki, even though he won't be on the big stage with Donald Trump, appears poised to hammer the billionaire front-runner. Former HP exec Carly Fiorina has been blunt in saying that, as the only woman in the field, she would be a potent adversary against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton. 
 
 More on this... Santorum: My record of accomplishment in DC sets me apart 
 
 Any of the seven could have a break-out moment Thursday afternoon that catapults them into the upper mix of the 17 candidates now on the field. 
 
 Those invited to the 5 p.m. debate are: Perry; Pataki; Fiorina; former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum; Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal; South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham; and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore. 
 
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 Pataki told Fox News the race right now is "all about name ID," with a "reality show host, a brother and son two of presidents" leading the field. He said he'll distinguish himself by his record as governor. 
 
 "I think I changed New York with sweeping conservative change more than any other state in America," he said. "Enough of the sound bites, enough of the posturing. Bring Americans together, governor successfully, solve our problems and move forward with confidence." 
 
 Like Trump, Fiorina also comes from a business background. But she told Fox News, "I've had a very different set of experiences than Donald Trump. I started out as a secretary, I went on eventually to lead the largest technology company in the world. So it's a very different experience set of working my way up." 
 
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 She said she knows more world leaders than anyone running save for maybe Clinton, "Only I didn't do photo ops, I wrestled with bureaucracies." 
 
 As for his debate plans, Santorum told Fox News on Thursday he plans to just be "authentic." 
 
 "I did this 22 times the last time around," said the former presidential candidate. 
 
 He said he'll be able to stand out by pointing to his legislative record as a former senator, fighting to ban partial-birth abortions, enact welfare reform and impose Iran sanctions. 
 
 "They're really isn't anybody else up there on the stage who has a record of accomplishment in Washington, D.C.," he said. 
 
 WATCH THE DEBATE ON YOUR MOBILE DEVICE 
 
 Syndicated columnist and Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York wrote that the 5 p.m. debate provides opportunities for candidates for several reasons. Namely, Trump won't be on the stage dominating attention, it will be less personality-driven, and the winner of the debate will get momentum. 
 
 Shirley said he thinks the media want to essentially pick someone from the first debate to advance. "I think the first debate is not going to get as much attention but it might surprise everybody and be the most issue-oriented because of the distracting fight opening up between [Jeb] Bush and Trump in the second debate," he said. 
 
 Both debates, hosted by Fox News and Facebook in conjunction with the Ohio Republican Party, will be held at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. 
 
 The 9 p.m. ET debate will include the top 10 candidates in an average of recent national polls. They are Trump; former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush; Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker; former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson; Texas Sen. Ted Cruz; Florida Sen. Marco Rubio; Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul; New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie; and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
– Rick Santorum isn't pleased to have been left off the lineup for the first primetime GOP debate tomorrow. In fact, he says Fox News should apologize to the candidates who were overlooked and to the American public. In an interview with NBC News, he says the method of picking the top 10 candidates from five recent national polls is an "insult to voters" and shows "networks trying to influence who the nominee is." A rep for Santorum adds "the RNC deserves as much blame for sanctioning this process" as Fox does for hosting it. The other six candidates who will take part in an earlier 5pm debate with fewer viewers are putting on a brave face. Rick Perry tweets he's looking forward to "what will be a serious exchange of ideas & positive solutions to get America back on track." In a statement, Carly Fiorina says she, too, is eagerly awaiting the event and is "encouraged by the support of conservative activists and grassroots Republicans." In anticipation of the debate, the Christian Science Monitor breaks down a few tried and tested moves you're likely to see, including one called the "clubhouse turn."