Rick Santorum

http://www.ricksantorum.com/

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Basic bio info

Rick Santorum was born May 10, 1958, in Winchester, Va.

He received his undergraduate degree from Pennsylvania State University, master’s degree from University of Pittsburgh, law degree from Dickinson School of Law, now part of Penn State.

The consultant and private-practice attorney was a member of the U.S. House from Pennsylvania from 1991 to 1995 and a member of U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania, 1995 to 2007. He was a member of so-called “Gang of Seven” that exposed the Congressional Banking and Congressional Post Office scandals.

He and his wife have seven children. Daughter Isabella “Bella” Santorum was born with a condition called Trisomy 18 and wasn’t expected to survive her first birthday, but turned 7 in May of this year. Santorum and wife Karen wrote “Bella’s Gift: How One Little Girl Transformed Our Family and Inspired a Nation.”

His stand (entering the race)

Conservative culture warrior Rick Santorum launched a 2016 White House bid on Wednesday, May 27, vowing to fight for working-class Americans in a new election season that will test his influence — and focus on social issues — in a changing Republican Party.

The former Pennsylvania senator may have exceeded his own expectations by scoring a second-place finish in the race for the Republican presidential nomination four years ago. Yet as he enters a more powerful and diverse 2016 field, he may struggle even to qualify for the debate stage in his second run.

“I am proud to stand here, among you and for you, the American workers who have sacrificed so much, to announce that I am running for president of the United States,” the 57-year-old senator said, flanked by factory workers and six of his seven children in a cinderblock warehouse near his western Pennsylvania hometown.

“The last race, we changed the debate. This race, with your help and God’s grace, we can change this nation.”

He is among the nation’s most prominent social conservatives, having dedicated much of his political career to opposing same-sex marriage and abortion rights, while advocating for conservative Christian family values.

He mentioned cultural issues only briefly, however, in his announcement, which was designed to broaden his appeal to working-class Americans. “As president, I will stand for the principle that every life matters — the poor, the disabled and the unborn,” said Santorum, a Catholic.

His support

A favorite among conservatives, the U.S. senator from rural western Pennsylvania won presidential nominating contests in 11 states in the 2012 campaign.

Santorum, who was runner-up for the Republican nomination race four years ago, has vowed to restore a middle class “hollowed out” by government policies.

He appealed primarily to social conservatives in 2012. But he is donning a new mantle of economic populism, that he’s labeled “blue-collar conservatism.”

“Working families don’t need another president tied to big government or big money, ” he has said.

The issue of immigration ties into his populist message, with his calling to curtail legal immigration as well illegal immigration.

The former Pennsylvania senator says the vast majority of immigrants coming into the U.S. — legally and illegally — are driving down wages for American-born workers.

He told Iowa evangelical voters back in July that “we need to hold the line and stop illegal immigration” while reducing legal immigration of unskilled workers by 25 percent. He said that will help bring up wages in the U.S.

With backing from evangelical Christian voters, Santorum, a 57-year-old Catholic and father of seven, won the Iowa caucuses in 2012. He went onto victory in primaries in 10 other states, dragging out Mitt Romney’s quest for the GOP nomination.

A crowd of hundreds watched Santorum’s announcement in May at Penn United Technologies, an employee-owned manufacturing company based in the western Pennsylvania county where Santorum grew up.

Wallace Cypher, 54, who lives a half mile away, said he’s backing Santorum because he wants a true conservative to win the GOP presidential nomination.

“I think he’d be a whole lot better than what we’ve got in there right now,” Cypher said.

Santorum has called President Barack Obama’s foreign policy a “disaster for America,” saying the president has played down the threat of Islamic terrorism. “We need to start by crushing ISIS now,” he has said of the Islamic State, calling for the United States to “bomb them back to the seventh century.” A staunch supporter of Israel, he said Obama is wrong in pressuring that nation to seek a negotiated peace deal with the Palestinians.

His critics

He’s having trouble getting traction as he makes his second consecutive bid for president.

Santorum, the grandson of a coal miner from western Pennsylvania, seems to come by his populism honestly, which also includes opposition to immigration policies encouraging competition for low-wage jobs. But there is little evidence that his economic message is winning him supporters.

Santorum has acknowledged his challenges in 2016, but says his experience could pay dividends the second time around. Most of the GOP’s recent presidential nominees, Mitt Romney and President Ronald Reagan among them, needed more than one campaign to win the nomination.

He faces considerable competition for his party’s social conservatives in particular. The list of Republicans courting religious voters includes former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist pastor who won the Iowa caucuses in 2008, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. And like Santorum, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is a Catholic.

Polling suggests a shift in voter attitudes about the importance of social issues, particularly gay marriage, which has long been a defining issue for Santorum. Like others in his party, he has appealed to religious voters recently by criticizing what he calls President Barack Obama’s “war on religious freedom,” which includes the broader debate over whether private businesses can deny services to same-sex couples.

And his stand on some economic issues also may have the fiscally conservative base wary. Santorum has focused recently on income inequality, saying the Republican Party has been too focused on helping the business sector and should concern itself more with wage earners. He says he would be open to raising the federal minimum wage. He has also been skeptical of trade deals, saying a flood of cheaper goods from overseas has meant a loss of jobs in the United States.