Former Sen. Rick Santorum 1 Step Closer To Running For President
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum says he's now testing the waters to run for president.
"We're going to determine whether the resources are there to make this a real legitimate campaign going forward," he said.
Having lost by a big margin to U.S. Sen. Bob Casey in 2006, Santorum knows that people in this state may be skeptical.
"I don't think most people in Pennsylvania have really considered Rick Santorum and the office of presidency that seriously," Santorum said.
But that could be changing.
"I think his brand of conservative politics may be back in fashion," Keith Schmidt, Santorum's former top aide, said.
One poll even has Santorum almost even with President Obama in Pennsylvania.
"We have an obligation and we're certainly going to work very hard to reintroduce myself and the family to Pennsylvania and the reasons we want to pursue this," Santorum said.
One big issue locally was his home in Penn Hills. He and his family live in a bigger house in Virginia. That's less an issue today.
"In the cornfields of Iowa, or in the small towns of New Hampshire, or in the seaside towns of South Carolina, they don't care about Penn Hills," Schmidt said. "We have to care about it here -- people are still talking about it, quite frankly, but that's not an issue for him when he runs for President of the United States."
For someone who is not yet an official candidate, Santorum has spent a lot of time in those three must win early states. He's already been to New Hampshire and South Carolina 14 times and to Iowa 11 times, all of which he believes will make him a player in next year's presidential race.
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