Current Position: Senior Fellow, Ethics and Public Policy Center; Contributor, Fox News; Consultant, Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC; Columnist, Philadelphia Inquirer
Career History: U.S. Senator (1995-2007); U.S. Representative (1991-1995); Attorney, Kirkpatrick and Lockhart (1986-1990); Administrative Assistant, Pennsylvania state senator Doyle Corman (1981-1986)
Birthday: May 10, 1958
Hometown: Penn Hills, Pa.
Alma Mater: Penn State, B.A., 1980; University of Pittsburgh, M.B.A., 1981; Dickinson Law School, J.D., 1986
Spouse: Karen
Religion: Catholic
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This former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania is set to test whether there are second acts in American political life.
During his 16 years in Washington, Santorum developed a reputation as a staunch social conservative. He emphasized the importance of fostering strong families and was a consistent critic of abortion rights and homosexuality. His uncompromising stances earned him his share of admirers, but also made him a polarizing figure. In 2006, he lost his seat to Bob Casey (D) in an 18-point landslide, as part of the wave that swept Democrats into control of both chambers of Congress. America Votes 2006, “U.S. Senate/Pennsylvania,” CNN.com.
Since losing that race, Santorum has remained a vocal voice, maintaining a column in the Philadelphia Inquirer, a perch as a contributor to Fox News and campaigning for Republican candidates throughout the country. He is also considering a 2012 presidential bid, formally launching an exploratory committee on April 13, 2011. Exploratory Committee announcement on Fox News' Greta Van Susteren show, April 13, 2011
As part of his 2012 presidential considerations, Santorum in September 2010 formed a political action committee in Iowa to help support family-values oriented candidates. Graham, David, “Santorum Steps Out,” Newsweek, Oct. 7, 2010. CNN reported that the PAC contributed over $48,000 to Republican candidates in the state in the 2010 elections. His Pennsylvania-based PAC sent $16,000 to South Carolina in the last few weeks of the midterms. Hanby, Peter, “Santorum steered money to Iowa and South Carolina,” CNN.com, Dec. 6, 2010.
Should he choose to run, Santorum would have a tough time overcoming the stigma of his overwhelming 2006 Senate defeat and proving he could attract a broad spectrum of voters. At the same time, his bond with social conservatives could create an opening for him in a crowded Republican field. His prospects largely depend on whether other candidates with appeal to a similar constituency (notably Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.)) decide to enter the race.
Santorum was born May 10, 1958 in Winchester, Va. as the son of a clinical psychologist for the Veterans' Administration. His father was an Italian immigrant and he grew up Catholic. When Santorum was seven-years-old, his family moved to Butler, Pennsylvania. Barone, Michael and Cohen, Richard, The Almanac of American Politics 2006, National Journal Group (2005). Townhall.com columnists, Rick Santorum, bio.
Santorum went on to college at Penn State, where as an undergraduate he dipped into politics for the first time by volunteering for the Senate campaign of John Heinz. After graduating in 1980, he pursued an MBA at the University of Pittsburgh and afterward moved to Harrisburg, where he worked as a staffer for state Sen.Doyle Corman. He earned a law degree from Dickinson School of Law in 1986.Barone, Michael and Cohen, Richard, The Almanac of American Politics 2006, National Journal Group (2005).Townhall.com columnists, Rick Santorum, bio.
Santorum took a job at the Pittsburgh law firm Kirkpatrick and Lockhart, where he worked for four years. During this time, he met Karen Garver, who he would marry in 1990. They would have and six children: four boys and two girls.
That same year, at 32, Santorum launched a long shot bid for Congress against a seven-term Democratic incumbent, Rep. Doug Walgren, who outspent him nearly three-to-one. Santorum ran a grassroots campaign, knocking on 25,000 doors and enlisting abortion opponents as volunteers. Her ran as an outsider, blasting Walgren for voting to raise his own pay seven times and living in the Washington area rather than his own district. In addition to opposing raising congressional pay, Santorum supported the line-item veto and limits on donations from political action committees. He won a narrow 51 to 49 percent victory. Barone, Michael and Cohen, Richard, The Almanac of American Politics 2006, National Journal Group (2005). Townhall.com columnists, Rick Santorum, bio.
During his first term in the House of Representatives, Santorum emerged as one of the so-called “Gang of Seven” – a group of freshman Republicans who helped expose a scandal surrounding the House bank. Despite the unfavorable redistricting of his Pennsylvania district, Santorum swung to a 23-point reelection victory in 1992, earning 61 percent of the vote. Barone, Michael and Cohen, Richard, The Almanac of American Politics 2006, National Journal Group (2005). Townhall.com columnists, Rick Santorum, bio.
His strong victory motivated Santorum to run for theSenate in 1994.The incumbent was Harris Wofford (D), who was appointed when Sen. John Heinz (R-Pa.) died in a plane crash. Wofford had campaigned for more government intervention in health care around the time when President Bill Clinton’s health -care proposal wentdown in flames, and he backed the 1994 crime bill that placed restrictions on gun ownership. By contrast, Santorum called for a more market-oriented approach to health care through medical -savings accounts and opposed gun control. In a year where an anti-big government tide propelled Republicans to victories nationwide and gained them control of both chambers of Congress, Santorum won, 49 to 47 percent. Barone, Michael and Cohen, Richard, The Almanac of American Politics 2006, National Journal Group (2005). Townhall.com columnists, Rick Santorum, bio.
During his first Senate term, Santorum racked up a conservative voting record. Santorum played a key role in passing 1995 and 1996 welfare reform, seeing the bill twice vetoed by Clinton before the president signed it into law in August 1996. After being reelected in 2000, beating congressman Ron Klink by a six-point margin, Santorum became chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, making him the third-highest ranking Senate GOPer.
During his time as conference chair, Santorum successfully sheparded the late-term birth abortion ban into law in 2003 – it had been passed twice during the Clinton years but vetoed each time. Santorum spent eight years on the Senate Armed Services Committee and six years on the Finance Committee. He also authored a book in 2005, titled: "It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good." Barone, Michael and Cohen, Richard, The Almanac of American Politics 2006, National Journal Group (2005). Townhall.com columnists, Rick Santorum, bio.
In 2006 he faced a tough reelection fight against Bob Casey (D), the state treasurer and son of a former governor. Casey was able to portray Santorum as a close ally of George W. Bush at a time when the president was increasingly unpopular. Casey also ran as an opponent of abortion, that cut into Santorum’s advantages among culturally conservative voters who may not have agreed with him on other issues. Santorum ended up losing by a wide 59 to 41 percent margin.
In January 2007, Santorum joined the Washington-based think tank the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he started the Program to Protect America's Freedom. He also became a consultant with the law firm Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott, LLC. Townhall.com columnists, Rick Santorum, bio.
As a senator, Santorum had a generally conservative voting record, having earned a 88.1 lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union. The American Conservative Union, Ratings of Congress, 2006 Senate Ratings.
He is mostly known for his views on social issues, but also sided with fellow Republicans on tax cuts and national-security matters. However, he is not a free market purist, as he supported policies such as steel tariffs and hiking the minimum wage. Barone, Michael and Cohen, Richard, The Almanac of American Politics 2006, National Journal Group (2005). He also differentiates himself from more libertarian-leaning Republicans. “They have this idea that people should be left alone, be able to do whatever they want to do, government should keep our taxes down and keep our regulations low, that we shouldn’t get involved in the bedroom, we shouldn’t get involved in cultural issues,” he said in a 2005 NPR interview. “You know, people should do whatever they want. Well, that is not how traditional conservatives view the world and I think most conservatives understand that individuals can’t go it alone. That there is no such society that I am aware of, where we’ve had radical individualism and that it succeeds as a culture.” Inskeep, Steve, “Rick Santorum, ‘It Takes a Family,” NPR, Aug. 4, 2005.
“Most folks on the left believe in the federal government as the best and fairest place to resolve problems and build a better America. I believe just the opposite, that a better America is built one family at a time by strengthening those families and having community organizations and churches there to support the family, as well as the state and federal government and the educational establishment, culture, and news media standing shoulder to shoulder and supporting the traditional family as well.” Santorum, Rick, “It Takes a Family” chat transcript, the Washington Post, Jul. 25, 2010.
The potential 2012 presidential candidate also argued that two-parent families were the best way to raise a child. “(W)hat I try to do in the book is point out that lots of different types of families can work but what we know works best is a two-parent traditional, what I call natural, families,” he said. “That's not to say that single moms or single dads or other types of family arrangements (aunts, uncles etc.) can't work. The story I tell in the book is one related to me by Dr. Wade Horn, where he likens it to taking an airplane trip, one plane gets you there 90% of the time, the other plane gets you there 80% of the time. Both are good planes, but who wouldn't be for the one that gets you there more often. That's what the traditional family is, proven over time to be the ideal and that's what we should strive for.” Santorum, Rick, “ItTakes a Family” chat transcript, the Washington Post, Jul. 25, 2010.
His comments on homosexuality in a 2003 interview with the Associated Press generated national controversy. “(I)f the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery,” he said. “You have the right to anything. Does that undermine the fabric of our society? I would argue yes, it does.”
He went on to say, “Every society in the history of man has upheld the institution of marriage as a bond between a man and a woman. Why? Because society is based on one thing: that society is based on the future of the society. And that's what? Children. Monogamous relationships. In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be.” The Associated Press, “Excerpt from Santorum interview,” USA Today, Apr. 23, 2010.
“Often, the death tax forces employers and businesses to downsize, laying off mid- and lower- income workers. And although some businesses in America may be able to endure this tax, for many small businesses, this untimely tax rings their death knell—no pun intended. You would be hard pressed to get even the most outspoken of opponents of repeal to argue that a policy which encourages the failure of small businesses benefits average Americans.” Santorum, Rick, “It’s Time to Kill the Death Tax,” Townhall,com, Jun. 8, 2006.
He said that he supported the war because he was "concerned about a rise of radical Islam as a trigger point to a larger war that, if we did not stop now, could threaten the very existence of freedom everywhere." He said that President Bush was “managing the public relations on this war very poorly” by being more concerned with “making the State Department comfortable” than communicating to Americans “a clear message and a clear understanding of what we are up against” when it came to fighting the Islamic terrorist threat. Brown, David, “Santorum keys on ‘Islamic fascism,’” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Oct. 10, 2006.
The endorsement could come back to haunt Santorum should he seek the 2012 presidency, especially given that Specter ended up switching parties in 2009 to become a Democrat. Santorum has already publicly admitted that his endorsement was a mistake. "In retrospect, it was a mistake," he told the American Spectator in a July 2010 interview. "I've admitted that. But you've gotta understand what my thinking was at the time. We had a 51-49 majority in the Senate. George W. Bush was up for a tough re-election fight. My sole focus was, how do we secure our majority, related most importantly to how could we confirm up to three Bush nominees to the Supreme Court. [Democrats were filibustering conservative nominees.] Conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans would be crucial to confirming Supreme Court nominees. Specter personally pledged to me he would support Bush's Supreme Court nominees [absent an ethical issue]." Hillyer, Quin, “Political Sanctum Santorum?,” the American Spectator, Jul. 15, 2010.
Should Santorum seek the presidency in 2012, he would do so with strong relationships with leading anti-abortion rights activists and social conservative groups. He also has connections within the legal community and will be owed favors from Republican candidates he has supported through his PACs.
In 2010, he endorsed winning Senate candidates Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Dan Coats (Ind.), Roy Blunt, Rob Portman (Ohio),Marco Rubio (Fla.) and even Pat Toomey (Pa.), despite the fact that he endorsed Toomey's former rival, Arlen Specter, in the 2004 Senate race. Toomey lost the GOP primary to then-GOP rival Specter in that contest, but has since switched his party affiliation to become a Democrat.