Rick Santorum stressed Friday that he wasn't giving up on the Florida Republican primary.
Santorum, who turned in a strong debate performance on Thursday while attacking Mitt Romney's healthcare law in Massachusetts, said he would be making a brief trip to his Virginia home before returning to Florida.
"I'm heading home because everybody in the press is asking me to get my taxes and I've gotta go home to get them," Santorum said on Fox News. "I'm coming back within 24 hours and I'm here through up to Election Day. I've spent every minute here in Florida, and I'm going to work in Florida."
Santorum's campaign had indicated over the past week that he might be leaving the state prior to election night. Recent polling shows the former Pennsylvania governor, who won the Iowa caucuses, trailing Romney and Newt Gingrich by double digits.
On Wednesday, a spokesman for his campaign said it was unclear whether Santorum would continue campaigning in the state through Election Day but that that didn't mean his campaign was over. The spokesman, J. Hogan Gidley, said Santorum had no plans to drop out after just one or a couple bad primaries.
The latest schedule for the Santorum campaign shows him campaigning in Florida on and off through the day Monday. The Florida primary is on Tuesday.
