Evan McMorris-Santoro February 15, 2012, 5:47 AM

Mitt Romney’s current situation is not unlike that of the GOP overall. The party has long sought to make the 2012 conversation all about the economy, identifying that as President Obama’s weak spot. But with polls now showing Americans growing more confident in an economic recovery, the GOP — and Mitt Romney — has a problem.

So far the solution has been to pivot back to the culture war. It doesn’t seem too much of a coincidence that the GOP picked a fight on birth control and “religious freedom” shortly after economic indicators picked up. Nor does it seem a coincidence that Romney — who based practically his whole campaign on the economy — is now touting his culturally conservative bona fides. And it really doesn’t seem a coincidence that he’s doing it now that he’s facing down a brand new surging opponent: the proudly hardcore Catholic Rick Santorum.

Romney devoted much of his speech at CPAC to telling people he was the guy who kept Massachusetts from “from becoming the Las Vegas of same sex marriage.” He’s using that line on the stump now, too, as this clip from a Romney rally in Mesa, AZ Monday shows.

You can almost hear the Santorum campaign doing a spit-take.

“Gov. Romney going toe to toe with Rick Santorum on social issues is like Ryan Seacrest going toe to toe with Mike Tyson,” Santorum communications director Hogan Gidley told TPM in an email Tuesday.

“Rick Santorum fought to end partial birth abortions - Mitt Romney’s healthcare law allowed for $50 dollar abortions,” Gidley continued, ticking off the long list of socially conservative achievements that make Santorum so popular with the evangelical right. “Rick Santorum fought to protect marriage as one man and one woman - Mitt Romney singed marriage licenses for gay and lesbian couples. With a track record like that, it’s no wonder Mitt Romney is still having to try sell himself as a social conservative.”

Yet the Romney campaign seems to really think they can make a play for the conservative electorate. On a conference call Tuesday, Romney surrogate and former Missouri Sen. Jim Talent (R) said Santorum “has certainly been outspoken on social issues and we honor his record in that regard.” But he also said Romney has the record to compete for the social conservative voter.

“Remember he did this also in a very, very blue state with a hostile environment. And that’s how you can tell when somebody’s really devoted to something is when they stand up for it when it’s hard,” Talent said of Romney’s conservative record. “He did that with the same-sex marriage issue, was very forthright. That’s actually when he first came to my attention because he came to Congress and testified on that issue.”

Talent said that socially conservative voters have already shown their willingness to go for Romney in a head-to-head with the other candidates.

“He’s won primaries where he’s won from every segment of the electorate,” Talent said of Romney. “So I definitely think he can run strong.”

It’s not just Talent who’s making this case. The Romney campaign has been touting the endorsement Romney received from James Bopp, the RNC member behind a plan to impose a socially- and fiscally-conservative “purity test” on Republican candidates.

In an open letter to conservatives posted on the Romney campaign website, Bopp makes the case for Romney as culture warrior.

“As Governor, Romney fought for social conservative values,” he writes, listing Romney’s vetoes of “authorized state funding of embryonic cloning” among other things. And, of course, there’s the gay marriage thing.

“When the Massachusetts Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, he left no stone unturned to set aside that ruling,” Bopp wrote.

Gay marriage-supporting Republicans are dismayed with Romney’s decision to turn himself from anti-discrimination advocate to candidate who fights for the social conservative vote by touting how hard he fought a court-mandated expansion of gay rights.

“Governor Romney should play to his strengths, and being a social conservative simply isn’t one of them,” the Log Cabin Republicans wrote on the group’s blog Tuesday, in a post that scorched Romney for his new tack. The general gist: why fight a losing battle for social conservatives that will weaken you in the fall?

“Despite his clear opposition to same-sex marriage (a position Log Cabin Republicans strongly disagree with, for the record), the leaders of the fading social conservative movement consistently reject him in favor of candidates like Rick Santorum,” the group wrote. “Romney won’t win these voters by out-flanking Santorum and Gingrich on social issues - but like gay and lesbian Americans, evangelicals are not single issue voters, either, and what matters in 2012 is the economy.”

But with bad news about the economy relatively scarce these days, it looks like Romney’s going to have to try and stop Santorum’s surge by fighting him on the social stuff. It’s a fight Santorum is very, very eager to have.

2012, 2012 Presidential Primaries, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum