WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican Rick Santorum began his presidential campaign by roaming Iowa in a pickup truck, boosted by peppy television ads that showed him walking through a garden with his wife and holding his youngest daughter.

Now, with his frustration apparently building over what he sees as slanted news coverage that favors Republican front-runner Mitt Romney, Santorum and his campaign are showing a dark side.

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – Rick Santorum cruised to victory in the Louisiana Republican presidential primary on Saturday but still trails Mitt Romney by a wide margin in the national delegate count for the party nomination.

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, was projected to finish second. Former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich was third, but immediately rejected suggestions he should drop out. Texas congressman Ron Paul ran fourth.

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) – Rick Santorum won the Louisiana Republican primary on Saturday, CNN projected based on exit polls, adding an 11th state to his total but still trailing Mitt Romney by a wide margin in the national delegate count.

The network made the call moments after voting closed, citing Santorum’s lead among voters in all income groups except for the very wealthy.

WEST MONROE, Louisiana (Reuters) – Rick Santorum tried on Friday to clarify his remarks that Americans might as well stick with President Barack Obama rather than elect Republican rival Mitt Romney, and accused reporters of swallowing the Romney camp’s spin on the White House race.

Santorum, campaigning in Louisiana before Saturday’s nominating contest, said he would support whoever won the Republican nomination to face Obama in the November 6 general election, but repeated his argument that Romney was too similar to the president.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Republican Mitt Romney had a comfortable edge over top rival Rick Santorum in early exit polls on Tuesday in the Illinois primary, where he hopes to move one step closer to clinching the party’s presidential nomination.

A solid Romney win in Illinois could give him a fresh burst of momentum in the volatile campaign for the White House and persuade Republicans to rally around the former Massachusetts governor and end an increasingly bitter nominating battle.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Front-runner Mitt Romney appeared poised to widen his lead in the Republican presidential race with a victory on Tuesday in Illinois, where polls show he has a comfortable edge over top rival Rick Santorum.

Romney hopes a solid win in Illinois will give him a fresh burst of momentum in the volatile campaign for the White House and persuade Republicans to rally around the former Massachusetts governor and end an increasingly bitter nominating battle.

CHICAGO (Reuters) – Front-runner Mitt Romney appeared poised to widen his lead in the Republican presidential race with a victory on Tuesday in Illinois, where polls show he has a comfortable edge over top rival Rick Santorum.

Romney hopes a solid win in Illinois will give him a fresh burst of momentum in the volatile campaign for the White House and persuade Republicans to rally around the former Massachusetts governor and end an increasingly bitter nominating battle.

EFFINGHAM, Illinois (Reuters) – In Tuesday’s Republican primary in Illinois, most votes will be cast in the suburbs and towns ringing Chicago, but Rick Santorum has his eye elsewhere.

Despite needing a win to slow Mitt Romney’s trudge toward the nomination, Santorum has campaigned largely in rural parts of Illinois, where, he said, “the heartland really begins.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In November 2010, supporters of George W. Bush gathered on a college campus in Dallas, Texas, to mark the groundbreaking of Bush’s presidential library.

Among those in the invitation-only crowd – which included former Vice President Dick Cheney, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a former Colombian president and singer Wayne Newton – was Mitt Romney.