MONTROSE, Colo. - GOP contender Rick Santorum is campaigning in Colorado today, the day of the Nevada caucus, hoping to have better luck here than in a state famous for high-stakes gambles.

He said he wrote off Nevada because he was outspent by both front-runner Mitt Romney and libertarian favorite Rep. Ron Paul.

"Nevada is a state that very much favors Gov. Romney," Santorum said. "He's invested about $1 million in the state already. Ron Paul's got close to $1 million in the state. We just don't have those resources. We think we'll do well in some of the conservative areas. It's not as demographically - Las Vegas doesn't match up for me as well as some other states do. We're not putting an emphasis on it."

Santorum has visited Colorado twice this week, drawing surprisingly large crowds in rural areas.

He used an event in Montrose, on the Western Slope, to attack both government regulation and slyly jab competitor Newt Gingrich.

"We'll make sure that you don't do something to scar the land or you don't do something to endanger a newt," he said. "No, not that Newt, different newt. I want to endanger that Newt - that's a different story."

Joining him for the past two days is billionaire Foster Friess, the number one contributor to Santorum's super PAC Red White and Blue.

Santorum maintained that despite their close friendship and time spent in each other's company, they were not communicating about campaign finances.

"I'm very, very fastidious about conversations I've had with him," he said. "Fosters been a friend for years and years and continues to be a friend. We don't talk about any activity of the super PAC at all. I have no idea about what he's doing or how much he's giving and I don't want to know. We talk about family. We talk about other activities. He's very careful in that regard and so am I."