Rick Santorum

Santorum’s met his wife, Karen Garver, as one of the applicants he was recruiting as summer interns for his law firm. She was then studying law at the University of Pittsburgh.

The couple married in 1990 and they have seven children. His son, Gabriel, born 1996, prematurely died at the hospital two hours after birth and his daughter Isabella, born 2008, was diagnosed with Edwards Syndrome, a genetic disorder with only 10% chance of survival past one year old. He suspended his 2012 presidential campaign after her second hospitalization.

He became the center of controversy in 2003 when he was quoted in an interview comparing consensual homosexual relationships to abusive "man on child, man on dog" sex.

Richard 'Rick' John Santorum was born on May 10, 1958 in Winchester, Virginia to Catherine Santorum, an administrative nurse and Aldo Santorum, a clinical psychologist and also Irish immigrants.

He was the second of three children in a Catholic family who attended Church regularly. He grew up in West Virginia and Pennsylvania where he attended Catholic schools and graduated school from Illinois when his parents transferred there.

Santorum graduated in 1980 with an honors degree in political science from Pennsylvania State University.

He then completed a one year MBA program from University of Pittsburgh's Joseph M Katz Graduate School of Business, graduating in 1981.

He also holds a JD degree with honors from Dickinson School of Law achieved by him in 1986.

Santorum’s first foray into politics was by volunteering for Senator John Heinz, a Republican from Pennsylvania, in the 1970s. He was also an administrative assistant to Republican State Senator Doyle Corman while working on his law degree during the years 1981 to 1984.

After graduating, he was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar and practiced law for four years at the Pittsburgh law firm Kirkpatrick & Lockhart, a firm known for raising lobbyists and political candidates. Santorum left his private law practice in 1990, after his election to the House of Representatives.

Santorum was elected to the U.S House of Representatives to represent Pennsylvania in 1990, at the age of 32.He ended up defeating seven-term Democratic congressman Doug Walgren by a significant margin. Santorum’s strategy of repeatedly criticizing Walgren for living outside the district for most of the year during his campaign was successful in earning him the votes of the community.

In 1992 though the 18th district was redrawn for the elections, Santorum still won the re-election with a heavy vote, even though the district had a 3:1 ratio of Democrats to Republicans.

In 1994, he won the election to the U.S Senate at the age of 36,again knocking out a Democratic congressman,Harris Wofford. He was re-elected in 2000,defeating U.S Congressman Ron Klink by 52-46% margin. In his re-election of 2006,he lost to Democrat Bob Casey Jr. by a 59-41% margin.

Rick Santorum was elected to the U.S House of Representatives to represent Pennsylvania in 1990 at age 32 by defeating seven-term Democratic congressman Doug Walgren.

In 1993, he was one of the 17 House Republicans who sided with most Democrats to support the legislation that prohibited employers from permanently replacing striking employees.

As a member of Gang of Seven he was also involved in exposing members of Congress involved in house banking scandal.

He was elected to the U.S Senate in 1994 at age 36 by defeating Democratic congressman Harris Wofford by a narrow margin even though he was considered an underdog in this election as Harris was 32 years his senior.

From 2001-2007 he was the Senate's third ranking Republican.