Rick Santorum is stepping up his game against GOP front-runner Mitt Romney. Unable yet to strike his opponent from the presidential race, Santorum is calling for a throwdown with Romney on a stage he dominates: the bowling alley. 
 
 “He’s quite the bowler,” says spokeswoman Alice Stewart. Santorum’s roots are deep in the sport. He studied Bowling 101 at Penn State University, has shot a high game of 241 (out of 300) and opened one recent game with seven straight strikes. He even has his own bowling ball. 
 
 Santorum has been bowling his way through Wisconsin, showing off his regular guy side to voters who head to the polls on Tuesday. “It’s a great way to meet people and relax,” says Stewart. 
 
 Romney is no stranger to the bowling alley, however, creating the possibility that he might take up a new challenge from Santorum revealed to Secrets. He’d want’s a bowl-off with Romney in Wisconsin before the primary. Romney’s team hasn’t responded yet. ||||| 4 years ago 
 
 (CNN) – Mitt Romney's presidential campaign said Monday they were pulling a television ad hitting rival Rick Santorum while the former senator tends to his young daughter, who was admitted to a hospital Friday. 
 
 The sharply negative ad, which was set to begin airing in the upcoming primary battleground Pennsylvania, highlighted Santorum's 2006 reelection loss in the state. The ad was replaced on television stations by a positive spot called "Conservative Record," which highlights Romney's record as governor of Massachusetts. 
 
 
 
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 Originally scheduled to run Monday through April 22, the negative spot was part of a $2.3 million ad buy in the state, according to a GOP media ad tracker not affiliated with a campaign or super PAC. 
 
 The commercial focuses on Santorum's loss against Bob Casey in his 2006 Senate bid for re-election to a third term. 
 
 "We fired him as senator," the ad's narrator says. "Why promote him to president?" 
 
 Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul said the decision was made "out of deference to Sen. Santorum's decision to suspend his campaign for personal family reasons." 
 
 "While this was the earliest we could let them know due to station closures over the holiday weekend, stations will comply with this request as soon as they are technically able," Saul continued. 
 
 Despite Saul's choice of words, Santorum has not formally suspended his campaign, and is currently scheduled to resume campaign stops Tuesday. 
 
 On Friday, Santorum's organization announced the candidate was halting campaign stops to be with his daughter Isabella, who suffers a chromosomal condition called Trisomy 18. The disorder causes severe developmental and medical problems.
– GOP hopeful Rick Santorum's latest campaign ad doesn't exactly scream 2012. The video is seemingly inspired by VH1's cult classic TV show Pop Up Video, which was a huge hit after it debuted in 1996 (it was resurrected in October of this year). In the 60-second spot, the former Pennsylvania senator plays backyard sports with his kids as trivia bubbles pop into view containing fascinating tidbits, such as "All the Santorum children were homeschooled." New York's Daily Intel blog notes: "It's the bubble-popping sound effect that really makes it."