Ron Paul, Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney (Jae C. Hong/AP)

MESA, Ariz. -- Have Ron Paul and Mitt Romney made some kind of secret alliance to boost Romney to the nomination? Rick Santorum is starting to think so.

After months on the campaign trail, Paul has largely chosen to focus his attacks on candidates not named Mitt Romney, most recently going after Santorum, the latest candidate to pose a challenge to Romney's candidacy. The idea that Ron Paul would spare Romney--while attacking candidates with arguably stronger conservative records than the former Massachusetts governor--has Santorum wondering.

"You'll have to ask Congressman Paul and Governor Romney what they've got going together," Santorum told reporters after the Republican presidential debate in Mesa, Arizona on Wednesday. "Their commercials look a lot alike and so do their attacks."

The idea might not be so far fetched. The Washington Post earlier this month reported that the Romney and Paul camps--as different as they are--have forged a behind-the-scenes alliance. "Romney's aides are 'quietly in touch with Ron Paul,' according to a Republican adviser who is in contact with the Romney campaign," the Post's Amy Gardner reported.

Although Paul has certainly landed a few punches on Romney over the course of the campaign, his efforts against him pale in comparison to the ads and comments he has made about the other candidates.

MESA, Arizona--Newt Gingrich's campaign website is about to go live with this well-circulated picture of Newt in his younger days, a Gingrich aide told Yahoo News.

As many have pointed out, Young Newt bears a striking resemblance to the character Dwight Schrute from "The Office."

Released by Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign

Romney and Santorum (Jae C. Hong/AP)

Mitt Romney fought for frontrunner status in front of a live national audience Wednesday night in the last debate before the crucial primaries on Feb. 28 in Michigan and Arizona.

In his opening statement at the CNN GOP debate, Romney said "I want to restore America's promise, and I'm going to do that --" prompting immediate applause from the audience in the Mesa Arts Center in Arizona. Instead of continuing, he stopped mid-sentence, adding: "That's good enough. As George Costanza would say, 'when they're applauding, stop.' Right?"

The former Massachusetts governor, who was born and raised in Michigan where his father served as governor, challenged former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum in his first answer of the evening, stating that Santorum voted in Congress to fund Planned Parenthood, the Department of Education, voted to raise the debt ceiling "five times," and to maintain the Davis-Bacon Act, which requires prevailing wages to be paid for public works projects. "Senator, during your term in Congress, the years you've been there, the government's doubled in size," Romney said.

Santorum defended his record, especially on spending, noting his positive rankings from the American Conservative Union.

The back-and-forth between Santorum and Romney was a public display of the battle that has been playing out in campaign ads and stump speeches issued by each candidate in the preceding weeks.

In one heated exchange, Santorum charged that Romney's healthcare plan in Massachusetts was a model for Obamacare. Romney hit back at Santorum saying "the reason we have Obamacare is... that you supported the pro-choice Senator of Pennsylvania and he voted for Obamacare." Santorum endorsed Arlen Specter for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania in 2004 against a more conservative Republican challenger-- Rep. Patrick J. Toomey. Specter in 2009 announced his decision to run as a Democrat in the 2010 election.