GOP candidates: Santorum backs 'discredited' stroke claim, he and Gingrich continue attacks on 'Romneycare'

As the GOP presidential hopefuls continue sparring on the campaign trail, The Associated Press takes a look at the "influence game" and tracks how big donors pursue their policy desires. Meanwhile, House Democrats are betting that Medicare will be the issue that wins them control of their chamber.

The Associated Press: Santorum Pushes Discredited Stroke Claim
Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum on Friday backed prominent conservative James Dobson's claim that President Barack Obama's administration would block medical treatment for stroke patients over age 70. Professional medical groups have called such statements bogus (Elliott, 2/3).

Boston Globe: Gingrich Continues Offensive Against Romney
Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich shows no sign of letting up on his tough attacks against rival Mitt Romney, despite losing yesterday's Nevada caucuses to Romney by a large margin. ... "His record as governor is very clear: he was pro-abortion, he was pro-gun control, he was pro-tax increase, he ended up third from the bottom in job creation," Gingrich said. "The combination of Romneycare and tax increases made him a very weak governor in terms of job creation" (Schoenberg, 2/5).

Boston Globe: Santorum On Fox: 'This Race Is A Long Way From Being Over'
After dismal finishes in the last three presidential nominating contests, Republican candidate Rick Santorum said today that he is looking to Tuesday's Colorado and Minnesota caucuses to turn the race around. ... Santorum called Romney a "uni-dimensional" candidate. "All he talks about is being the CEO ... being the businessman," Santorum said. He added that Romney "sided with big government" on issues including health care -; where Romney's Massachusetts health care overhaul included an individual mandate -; and on cap and trade (Schoenberg, 2/5).

The Associated Press: Influence Game: Big Donors And What They Want
A board member and former chairman of a prestigious Los Angeles hospital, John C. Law with the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, has given the pro-Obama committee $100,000 as the hospital has lobbied Obama's administration over Medicare and Medicaid funding for teaching hospitals and electronic medical records, the National Institutes of Health and Army research programs (Gillum, Lardner and Braun, 2/3).

The Hill: Democrats' Campaign Leader Confident Medicare Issue Will Make Pelosi Speaker
The Democratic representative charged with taking back the House says the election will be about one issue -; Medicare -; and his party "is in a much better place than anyone thought we would be" to put Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) back in the speaker's chair. "This is going to be razor sharp," Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Chairman Rep. Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) said on C-Span's Newsmakers, airing on Sunday. "We are ahead in the generic polls ... it is a good indicator and right now we are up in every single generic ballot" (Wasson, 2/4).