UPDATED at 4:30 with more from appearance.
COTTLEVILLE • Eight days before the Missouri presidential primary, Rick Santorum brought his campaign Monday to Republican-dominated St. Charles County, emphasizing his proposals to improve the competitiveness of American manufacturers.
"The government's got to get out of the way," the former Pennsylvania senator told an overflow mid-afternoon crowd at St. Charles Community College.
Among other things, Santorum repeated his call for a repeal of the federal tax on companies that manufacture in the United States. He also said he would roll back all regulations imposed by the Democratic administration of President Barack Obama.
Moreover, he called for approval of the proposed Keystone pipeline and changing the nation's educational system so it better serves parents.
Santorum's appearance before about 350 people was the first in the state by any of the four remaining candidates in the run-up to the Feb. 7 Missouri vote, which this year will be merely a "beauty contest" with no national convention delegates at stake.
The selection of Missouri's 52 delegates won't begin until local caucuses March 17.
"We need the bellwether state of Missouri to stand up to say we need a strong, principled conservative," Santorum said at the end of his talk of more than 40 minutes.
He also decried what he called the "gutter politics we've been seeing in this race" - a reference to the barrage of back-and-forth attacks by frontrunner Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich in the days leading up to Tuesday's Florida primary.
Meanwhile, Santorum, who has trailed those two in recent opinion polling in Florida, rejected a key national Gingrich supporter's call for Santorum to withdraw from the race.
Karen Fesler, regional coordinator for Santorum's campaign, said in an interview that the upcoming Missouri primary "allows us to go head-to-head against Romney."
That's a reference to Gingrich's failure to sign up for the Missouri ballot before the deadline weeks ago. Gingrich is Santorum's main rival for the votes of social conservatives against Romney, who is perceived by critics as too moderate.
After Santorum left the auditorium, he spoke briefly outside the building with a bullhorn to about 150 well-wishers who weren't able to get in.
"You have an opportunity to re-set this race again," Santorum told them. "Be a game-changer, Missouri."
Santorum was referring to the topsy-turvy nature of the GOP race which has seen various candidates' standings in opinion polls and primary votes rise and fall over the months.
Santorum also mentioned the upcoming Missouri caucuses.
Campaign aides said supporters were contacted in recent days to get the word out about Monday's appearance, which wasn't announced publicly until Sunday.
Among those on hand were two prominent St. Charles County GOP personalities - former County Executive Joe Ortwerth and state Rep. Doug Funderburk from the St. Peters area. Both said in interviews that they support Santorum.
Ortwerth cited Santorum's history of genuine commitment to anti-abortion and pro-family values causes.
He added that his home state of Pennsylvania, like Missouri, has strong social conservative and working-class constituencies and Santorum has the ability to appeal to both.
