Rick Santorum

Richard John "Rick" Santorum (born May 10, 1958) is an American attorney and Republican Party politician. He served as a United States Senator representing Pennsylvania (1995–2007) and was the Senate's third-ranking Republican (2001–07). He ran as a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination, finishing second to the eventual Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

Born in Virginia, Santorum was raised primarily in Butler, Pennsylvania. He obtained an undergraduate degree from Pennsylvania State University, an M.B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh, and a J.D. from the Dickinson School of Law (now part of Penn State). Santorum worked as an attorney at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, where he met Karen Garver. They married in 1990, and have seven living children (one child died shortly after birth). Santorum was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives to represent Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district in 1990 and later became a member of a group dubbed the "Gang of Seven".

Rick Santorum presidential campaign, 2012

Former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania began a campaign for the 2012 Republican Party nomination for president of the United States in April 2011. He had been preparing for a run since shortly after the 2008 presidential election.

Santorum lagged in the polls for all of 2011 until he surged in the week before the Iowa caucuses, propelling him to a narrow victory over Mitt Romney in the first contest of the presidential primaries. Santorum's presidential hopes received another boost when he surprisingly swept all three votes held on February 7, 2012, in Minnesota, Missouri, and Colorado. On April 10, 2012, in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Santorum announced the suspension of his campaign.

Background and campaign announcement

Santorum stopped short of a full-fledged candidacy before the beginning of 2011. Prior to that, he had indicated that he was merely considering running for president.

Santorum filed for an exploratory committee with Federal Elections Commission, and announced the organization on the Fox News program On the Record w/ Greta Van Susteren on April 13, 2011. He formally announced his run for the Republican presidential nomination on ABC's Good Morning America on Monday, June 6, 2011.