Rick Santorum, 53, is a former senator from Pennsylvania who was once the chamber’s third-ranking Republican. As a lawmaker, he was critical of homosexuality -- which he once compared to bestiality -- as well as abortion and stem-cell research. In 2005, Time magazine named him one of the nation’s 25 most influential evangelicals. Santorum withdrew from the race on April 10, 2012.
Santorum’s willingness to take uncompromising stands on social issues made him a target of Democrats who easily defeated him in 2006. Democrat Bob Casey won the election by 18 percentage points.
Since then, Santorum has worked at a law firm, as a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer and, until this year, as a commentator for Fox News.
Santorum was born in Winchester, Virginia and grew up in Pennsylvania, the son of a clinical psychologist who worked for the Veterans Administration. He received his undergraduate and law degrees from Pennsylvania State University, where he was head of the college Republicans. He also earned a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Pittsburgh.
He worked for a law firm for four years until winning his first House race in 1990 at the age of 32. He was elected to the Senate in 1994 and served two terms. Santorum and his wife Karen have seven children. An eighth died shortly after birth.
Rick Santorum News
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Former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania will announce today that he is suspending his bid for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, a person close to the campaign said.
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Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign pulled an attack ad set to air in Pennsylvania targeting Rick Santorum, responding to the Republican rival’s decision to suspend politicking after the hospitalization of his daughter.
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The leading rivals for the Republican presidential nomination campaigned in the final hours before Wisconsin’s primary with different goals: Mitt Romney focused on President Barack Obama and November’s general election while Rick Santorum tried to stay viable.
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On the eve of Wisconsin’s Republican presidential primary, Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum campaigned in the state with two different missions: Romney worked to pivot to President Barack Obama and the November general election, while Santorum fought to keep his candidacy viable.
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Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum won Louisiana’s primary, giving him another victory in a region where Mitt Romney, the front-runner for the nomination, has struggled.
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Illinois delivered primary wins for Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush that effectively clinched their Republican presidential nominations. Mitt Romney’s victory in the state yesterday may not yield the same clarity.
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Campaigning in Illinois ahead of what polls show could be a close primary vote, Romney toughened his critiques of Santorum, even as he keeps a focus on President Barack Obama, whom Republicans are trying to unseat in November.
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Rick Santorum took in $9 million in February, bringing his campaign fundraising to $15.7 million, Federal Election Commission records show. He had $2.6 million in the bank at the end of the month.
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Mitt Romney said he expects to become the Republican presidential nominee as rival Rick Santorum called him a weak candidate to run against Democratic President Barack Obama in the November election.
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While the messages of Romney and Santorum may win votes in the Republican presidential primaries, they’re likely to face a chillier reception during the general election in battleground states such as Nevada and Colorado, where the Hispanic population has surged.
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With minimal campaign organization and less funds than his rivals, Santorum has boosted his campaign with the votes of a network of evangelical Christians, anti-abortion rights activists and home-schooling parents who are resisting frontrunner Mitt Romney.
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In Illinois, long a domain for mainstream Republican politicians, Mitt Romney counts on strong support for his party’s presidential nomination.
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Rick Santorum won the Alabama and Mississippi Republican presidential primaries, strengthening his status as Mitt Romney’s main challenger and dealing a setback to Newt Gingrich.
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Rick Santorum’s wins in Mississippi and Alabama may have done more damage to Newt Gingrich than to front-runner Mitt Romney.
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Mitt Romney’s Republican presidential rivals are boosting attacks ahead of Southern primaries this week that could start to winnow the field.
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The Republican presidential candidates snacked on hickory-smoked ribs, used grits as a campaign prop and joked about shooting rifles with a comedian famous for “redneck” humor as they made a final push for victories in two Deep South primaries.
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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, pressing for a victory in tomorrow’s Illinois primary, is branding both President Barack Obama and primary rival Rick Santorum as economic lightweights.
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For all the concern expressed by Republicans about the growth of the national debt under President Barack Obama, his 2013 budget envisions less borrowing than plans from his top rivals, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.
Opinion from Bloomberg View
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In a famous speech 52 years ago, presidential candidate John F. Kennedy said he believed that “the separation of church and state is absolute,” and promised that as a Roman Catholic, he would not take orders from the pope.
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“The one who can beat Obama: Rick Santorum,” the television commercial proclaims. That boast brings cheers from two quarters: the faithful followers of the conservative Republican presidential candidate, and the Democratic president’s political strategists.
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Like Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum is more admired than liked. Many of Santorum's former Senate colleagues don't love him, though some respect him.
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Christian conservative leaders passed up the opportunity to rally behind Rick Santorum in Iowa. Their support may have given him the votes he needed to defeat Romney.
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For the moment, the former Pennsylvania senator has emerged as the candidate of the evangelicals just in time for a frontloaded primaries schedule heading fast into South Carolina.
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Santorum’s virtual tie with Mitt Romney in Iowa makes him just about all that stands between Romney and the Republican nomination. It's time to read up more on the former Pennsylvania senator's policies.
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Because money follows momentum, Santorum now has a good shot at mounting a stiff challenge to a stiff front-runner who has shown little ability to appeal to three-quarters of today’s GOP.
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At the Iowa caucuses, it seemed voters were seeking the least objectionable among a group of undesirables, however, to a non-Iowa non-Republican, it looked as if Iowa Republicans had an embarrassment of riches.
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The much-maligned Iowa phase of the campaign has been extraordinarily useful at clarifying the ideas, weaknesses and strengths of the Republican field.
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The NBC-Marist poll provides further confirmation of what everyone in Iowa is talking about -- former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum’s timely surge that may put him in the top tier of the Jan. 3 caucuses.
Presidential Campaign News
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Updated 2 hours, 13 minutes ago
The death of New Jersey Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg has thrust a politically challenging series of decisions upon Chris Christie, the state’s Republican governor.
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Updated 1 hour, 13 minutes ago
When the Rhode Island Senate voted in April to legalize same-sex marriage, it produced an unusual political dynamic: every Republican supported it.
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Updated 1 hour, 5 minutes ago
The Internal Revenue Service is headed for another public pounding today as multiple controversies are combining to besiege the U.S. tax agency.
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In his intentionally wrinkled button- down shirt, with trimmed hair and eager poise, Sam Adkisson is the kind of young Republican his party needs.
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The high per-unit price of medical services in this country is an open secret, well documented in the health-policy world but largely ignored in the political debate.
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George H. Weiler III, senior vice president for wealth-management services at UBS AG, has died. He was 69.
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In his recent speech on terrorism and national security, President Barack Obama performed superbly as explainer in chief, a role in which he often hasn’t succeeded. It may not matter much.
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Updated 3 hours, 19 minutes ago
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton leads Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush in matchups of potential 2016 presidential candidates, a poll released today shows, even as her favorable ratings among registered voters have declined.
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Updated 3 hours, 27 minutes ago
The $574 billion Medicare health system, the second-largest U.S. social services program, will exhaust its main financial trust fund in 2026, two years later than predicted as the Affordable Care Act helps control costs.
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U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann’s decision to leave Congress marks a changing guard in the anti-tax Tea Party movement as it girds for its next battle later this year over an increase in the nation’s debt ceiling.
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