For GOP hopefuls, a calm before storm

WASHINGTON -- A resurgent Rick Santorum hopes to spring his next big surprise in Michigan. Newt Gingrich looks for a campaign revival in the Bible Belt. Mitt Romney has his home state of Massachusetts, and the luxury of picking his spots elsewhere, if not everywhere, as the race for the Republican presidential nomination roars back to life.

After a brief midwinter lull, the Republican field faces a cross-country series of nine primaries and four caucuses between Feb. 28 and Super Tuesday on March 6. At stake are 518 delegates, more than three times the number awarded so far in the unpredictable competition to pick a GOP opponent for President Barack Obama.

A debate on Wednesday in Arizona, the first in three weeks and possibly the last of the GOP campaign, adds to the uncertainty.

The political considerations are daunting as Romney, Santorum, Gingrich and Ron Paul weigh the cost of competing in one state against the hope of winning in a second or perhaps merely running well but gaining delegates in a third.

"Not all states are of equal importance," said Steve Schmidt, who helped the GOP's 2008 nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, navigate the campaign calendar as a senior adviser.

According to numerous strategists inside and outside the campaigns, the Michigan primary on Feb. 28 shapes up as particularly important contest as Romney tries to fend off a charging Santorum one week before a 10-state night on Super Tuesday.

Yet of the 13 states, Georgia has the biggest delegate haul at stake, 76, and Gingrich can ill afford to lose now where his political career was launched in 1978. Sensing an opportunity, the pro-Romney group Restore Our Future is targeting Gingrich in television ads in the state, hoping to deny the former House speaker a sweep of the delegates and leave some on the table for Romney to scoop up.

No such maneuver is possible in Arizona, where all 29 delegates go to the winner. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, is heavily favored there.

Rep. Ron Paul, a Texan who is the only of the top four contenders without a victory, eyes four chances to break through: caucuses in Washington on March 3, and in North Dakota, Idaho and Alaska three days later. A campaign trip to Alaska is possible.

Nor are the candidates the only ones working to shape the race. Restore Our Future, the pro-Romney group that devastated Gingrich with attack ads in two states, is turning its attention to Santorum, a former senator from Pennsylvania. Already, the group has spent a combined $5 million in Arizona and Michigan for TV ads to run through Feb. 28.

The Red White and Blue Fund, which backs Santorum, is advertising in Michigan, but Santorum and the group are being outspent roughly 3-1 by Romney and Restore Our Future.