CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Rick Santorum on Thursday pleaded with conservatives not to give up on his presidential hopes, urging them to resist calls to shift to rivals whom he mocked as “Tweedledum and Tweedledee” who were busy “playing footsies with the left.”

Relishing his turn in the role of aggressor, Santorum tweaked his rivals during a day of campaigning and then in a toe-to-toe confrontation with them during the final debate before South Carolina polls on Saturday. The race seemed to turn to a two-man contest between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, and Santorum sought to derail both with scathing criticism.