MONTROSE, Colo. – Rick Santorum said Saturday he wants to “endanger” rival Newt Gingrich, while presidential rival Ron Paul claimed “the American people are waking up” as both Republican hopefuls peered past Nevada.

Santorum and Paul both eyed upcoming contests Saturday, signaling neither was likely to change his strategy in a race that seemed to have become a two-man contest between former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Gingrich, the former House speaker. With intense rhetoric, both Santorum and Paul assailed Washington in the hopes the topsy-turvy contest for the Republican nomination would yield yet another reshuffling just a month into voting.

“If you’re a swing voter, who are you going to believe?” Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, asked a crowd packed into a hotel ballroom here on Colorado’s Western Slope. “America is not looking for well-oiled weather vanes. They are looking for leaders.”

“The one thing that is on our side is the American people are waking up,” said Ron Paul in a separate speech frequently interrupted by applause and standing ovations from hundreds in a school auditorium in Rochester, Minn.

The Texas congressman didn’t mention President Obama or any of his GOP competitors by name, diving instead into a lecture about a need to protect personal liberties, revive the gold standard, abolish the Federal Reserve and shift to a less-interventionist foreign policy.

“Our problems are a lot longer than 3 years old. They’ve been going on for a long time,” Paul said, aiming his barbs at President Woodrow Wilson instead of Obama.

Paul is building off a decent base of support in Minnesota, where he drew nearly 16 percent of the 2008 vote.

Santorum planned to spend today in Minnesota, including a church visit and a stop at the factory that produces the sweater vests his campaign sells for $100 each to raise money.

What he lacks in organization, he is hoping to supplement with sharper criticism.

Santorum’s strategy has been to bloody Gingrich, outlast his one-time ally and then emerge as the alternative to front-runner Romney.