Rick Santorum’s Potential Candidacy for the 2008 Presidential Election

The rise of swing states like Pennsylvania and Florida has brought about the prominence of state leaders like Jeb Bush and Rick Santorum to the forefront of the 2008 presidential nominating process. Governor Jeb Bush of Florida has family lineage on his side, with a brother and father as American presidents, along with leadership experience during natural disasters and budget crises. But the dark horse candidate of the two is Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania. Santorum is a relatively young politico whose socially conservative politics play into the increasingly right turn for American politics.

Santorum was born in 1958 in Butler City Pennsylvania. The future senator graduated from Penn State University with a BA in Political Science, followed by an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh and a law degree from Penn State’s Dickinson School of Law. After holding positions at a law firm and in state politics, Santorum decided to get involved in politics by winning a House of Representatives seat in 1990 in a heavily Democratic district in Western Pennsylvania.

As a member of the “Gang of Seven” in the House, he went hard after increasing budget deficits and was partially responsible for the 1994 Republican revolution in Congress. Santorum went on to run for the Senate in Pennsylvania in 1994 and is engaged in a tough fight for his seat in the 2006 congressional midterm elections. Popular Democrat Bob Casey has a high single digit lead in recent polls. While Santorum has traditionally been unpopular on a national level, he has dedicated grassroots supporters in the rural areas of Pennsylvania and his role as underdog in the past promises a fight to the finish.

While it may seem that Santorum’s national lack of popularity would preclude him from being a Republican candidate in 2008. However, Santorum’s strong stands on conservative mainstays like creationism and tighter budgets makes him wildly popular among conservatives. Santorum fought unsuccessfully for a provision in the No Child Left Behind education bill that would balance the teaching of evolution and creationism in classrooms. Santorum and other conservatives have come to the defense of church groups who have sought public funding for certain community programs. Santorum is one of the most popular social conservatives in Congress at present and the growing conservative movement in the nation means that Santorum will either be a prominent figure at the top of the 2008 Republican ticket or he will be a valuable ally to whomever wins the nomination.