As Rick Santorum praised Mitt Romney and pledged to help elect him, the former Pennsylvania senator also said on Friday that part of his "mission" is to keep Romney's feet to the fire on conservative issues.

Santorum's comments happened during an interview with 89 WLS radio Chicago. Santorum was attending the Conservative Political Action Conference in Rosemont, Illinois.

During the interview, Santorum discussed his new political committee -- a non profit designed to advance conservative issues and defeat President Obama.

"And you're going to be a forceful advocate for Romney on the trail?" interviewer Dan Proft asked Santorum.

"I have been and will be," Santorum said.

Co-interviewer Bruce Wolf interjected: "But you kind of have to keep Gov. Romney's feet to the fire. Because you know that the tendency will be to Etch-a-Sketch the whole thing."??

To that, Santorum answered: "To me, it's a dual mission. But that's not necessarily targeted at Gov. Romney, it's targeted at everybody -- it's targeted at every senator and every House member."

"We need to make sure that the things they say on the campaign trail are the things they do when they get elected."