MANCHESTER, NH - Part of Rick Santorum 's campaign pitch is that Republicans need to put forward a nominee who is a stark contrast with President Obama, as they did in 1980 with Ronald Reagan, who beat George H.W. Bush in the New Hampshire primary.

"New Hampshire knew what America needed was a contrast, was bold colors, not pale pastels," he told voters in Dublin today.

Implicit in the rhetoric is the notion that he is the candidate of bold colors, and Mitt Romney is pale pastels.

"Give me one example where you're bold - in a policy way - where you're bold and Mitt Romney is a pale pastel," ABC News asked Santorum today, in a network exclusive interview that will air on World News with Diane Sawyer tonight.

"Well, healthcare," Santorum said. "I mean I've had a solid consistent and bold track record in consumer driven healthcare."

Santorum said that he was "the first author of medical savings accounts, now called health savings accounts and most folks who were looking at free market alternatives to health care understand that that is really the core of what any future free market health care system is going to look like. And John Kasich and I were the first to introduce a bill on that 20 years ago so I've got a pretty strong record of being a bold contrast advocate for freedom of markets, free people, and free enterprise.

"In the case of Governor Romney," Santorum said, referring to Romney's health care bill in Massachusetts and his subsequent comments about it, "obviously there is a convoluted record that you would have to be a yoga instructor to be able to convince people that it's straight."

- Jake Tapper and Shushannah Walshe