At the same time, Santorum's advisers are bracing for an onslaught from Romney. They were largely spared in the last trio of states — Minnesota, Missouri and Colorado.
"We fully expect his search-and-destroy methods to be put on display. That's his M.O.: instead of focusing on his own record, their first inclination is to tear down his opponent," said Hogan Gidley, Santorum's communications chief.
But there are limits to what Santorum's little team can do.
He refuses to hire a pollster and pledges to campaign from his gut. He has brought on veterans from Mike Huckabee's orbit, including the top spokeswoman for Huckabee's 2008 presidential bid and Michele Bachmann's 2012 race. Other aides, too, are coming aboard as Santorum's strategy meetings have grown from just one state to a handful of competitive races.
Yet he lacks a headquarters to have those meetings. Often, Santorum's top aides confer over conference calls or Skype.
The disorganization caused problems at the Tacoma event, which was held at an outdoor venue adjacent to a camp site of the local Occupy protesters. Lacking the staff to handle such logistics on his own, Santorum had left the planning to the state GOP.
A confident Santorum took the stage as supporters chanted, "We pick Rick!"
"You have very good taste. Thank you," Santorum responded.
But in a matter of minutes, his supporters were overshadowed by shouting from liberal protesters who packed the event. Two were dragged away by police in the midst of his speech.
A week after his trio of victories, Santorum said he's raised nearly $4 million since then and expects to hit that mark soon.
Romney, by contrast, averaged more than $2 million a week over the last three months of 2011. Santorum raised less than $1 million over the entire quarter.
It's unclear how long Romney will wait to take an anti-Santorum message to the airwaves. His allies with the Restore Our Future super PAC already have bought time in several states and plan to go after Santorum aggressively.
Romney aides point to three vulnerabilities beyond Santorum's support for some earmarks.
They note that Santorum was one of a handful of Republicans who voted to confirm Sonia Sotomayor to the federal circuit court in 1998. Sotomayor was nominated by President Barack Obama, and confirmed by the Senate, to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2009.
Santorum also faced criticism during the New Hampshire and South Carolina primary campaigns for opposing right-to-work legislation, an issue Romney aides expect to re-emerge.
They also expect Santorum's endorsement of then-Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter over Rep. Pat Toomey in the 2004 GOP Senate primary to become an issue. Santorum said in a video appeal for Specter, a social moderate, that the senior Republican senator was "with us on the votes that matter." In 2009, Specter changed his party affiliation to Democrat.
Gingrich won't make things easier for Santorum either.
Despite falling in the polls, the former House speaker says he's the strongest Romney alternative.
The National Review, an influential conservative magazine, published an editorial calling on Gingrich to step aside and endorse Santorum. But Gingrich this week called the article "silly" and said he had no intention of abandoning the race.
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Associated Press writers Philip Elliott in Washington and Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.
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