Two underdog Republican candidates hoping for a come-from-behind surge to become the party’s nominee skipped the hoopla surrounding today’s primary in Florida and instead turned their focus on Colorado, where the state’s caucus is still a week away.

Former Senator Rick Santorum and current Congressman Ron Paul held campaign rallies on the Front Range — the first of the remaining candidates to arrive as the national contest for the Republican nomination heads out West.

On Saturday, Republicans hold their caucus in Nevada. Colorado’s is on Tuesday.

“We plan to be in this race for a while,” Santorum told the 250 people gathered this morning at the Lone Tree Golf Club Lounge. “Colorado could have a lot to do with that.”

The energy on display among Paul supporters at a Denver rally later in the day made him appear to be the front-runner. And Santorum’s appearance had people gathering up yard signs with conviction that their candidate’s win here is not only possible but assured.

But both Santorum and Paul trail former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Congressman Newt Gingrich in most national polls.

Paul spoke in the Renaissance Denver Hotel’s ballroom about how the role of government should be to defend liberty.

“When government grows, liberty is diminished,” said Paul, propped on a stage before hundreds of standing supporters. “The role of government should be to defend liberty.”

Numerous times in his 40-minute speech, the Texas Congressman was interrupted by claps and whistles in support of his messages of ending the Federal Reserve and all U.S. military operations overseas.

“If we want to cut spending, we should start with the outrageous spending we’re doing overseas,” Paul said.”No more wars without a congressional declaration. We need to stay out of the internal affairs of other nations and stop acting like we have the authority to go policing around the world.”

Santorum hit similar peaks in his 40-minute speech — telling his supporters to pick “someone you can trust.”

“We can’t afford leaders who are unpredictable or lack the conviction to do what’s necessary,” Santorum said. “We need someone who the American public can look at and say, ‘that is someone I can trust to go out and do what’s right to restore the country.’ “

Kurtis Lee: 303-954-1655, klee@denverpost.com or twitter.com/kurtisalee

