Rick Santorum

Those skeptical of whether Rick Santorum has what it takes to win a general-election contest this fall have focused on, among other things, his drumbeating on social issues in a year when Republican strategists believe hitting President Obama on the economy is the way to win the White House. Santorum's potential vulnerability on that score was on display Thursday night in New Hampshire, where he was challenged on his views on gay marriage. Santorum is an ardent, outspoken opponent of gay marriage, favoring an amendment to the Constitution that would define marriage as solely between a man and a woman.

Former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum, who dropped out of the race after presenting an energetic challenge to Mitt Romney from the party's right flank, jousted over gay marriage and contemporary culture with Jay Leno on Tuesday, the day after he endorsed his former rival (see videos below). Before they ever so gently crossed political swords, though, Santorum presented Leno with a gift, the sartorial symbol of his unexpectedly long-lived campaign: an American-made sweater vest from Bemidji Woolen Mills, a Minnesota company.

Rick Santorum's youngest daughter, Bella, who suffers from a severe genetic disorder, has been hospitalized, the presidential candidate's campaign announced Friday. "Rick and his wife Karen have taken their daughter Bella to the hospital.  The family requests prayers and privacy as Bella works her way to recovery," spokesman Hogan Gidley said. Bella was born in 2008 with Trisomy 18, a rare defect in which a baby has an extra chromosome that results in abnormal development of the brain and major organs.

In a preview of Rick Santorum's first appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno" (see video below), the former Pennsylvania senator, who could be prickly in debates, seemed relaxed and able to joke about some of the topics that cemented his reputation as the most conservative candidate in the race for the GOP presidential nomination. Leno prodded Santorum, who wore his trademark sweater vest, about the timing of his endorsement of Mitt Romney, which came at the end of a long email to supporters Monday.

Rick Santorum has won the Kansas Republican caucuses, according to Associated Press and network projections, his eighth statewide victory in the GOP presidential nomination battle. The victory for Santorum was expected. Aside from the former Pennsylvania senator, only Ron Paul seriously contested the state. Forty total delegates are at stake, and will be awarded based on both statewide and congressional district results. Santorum won three contests earlier this week on Super Tuesday, though he lost the most fiercely contested battle of the day in Ohio to Mitt Romney.

Rick Santorum has won the Louisiana Republican primary, giving his campaign a boost as front-runner Mitt Romney seeks to wind down the nominating process. The Associated Press declared the former senator from Pennsylvania the victor based on early results and exit polling information. Santorum was seen as the favorite heading into the vote in a state where only registered Republicans were eligible to participate, and where evangelical voters made up a far greater share of the vote than in Illinois, which handed Romney a sizable victory earlier this week.

The second poll in a week shows Mitt Romney cutting deep into Rick Santorum's lead in his home state, Pennsylvania. Romney now trails Santorum by just six points in the state with 35% to Santorum's 41%, according to a Quinnipiac University survey released Tuesday. It's a devastating shift for Santorum who on March 14 in the same poll was besting Romney 36% to 22%. The poll comes on the heels of a Franklin & Marshall College survey that found Romney behind by just two points. This week, Santorum acknowledged that Pennsylvania is a “must win” for his presidential campaign.

As far as last stands go, Rick Santorum's campaign to rejuvenate his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination by winning his home state of Pennsylvania is looking increasingly bleak. A new poll by Public Policy Polling (PPP), released late Wednesday , has GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney ahead of Santorum 42% to 37%. The poll, conducted after Romney's primary victories in Wisconsin, Maryland andWashington, D.C.indicates a rapid, drastic swing in the former Massachusetts governor's favor.

In the spring of 1980, the race for the Republican presidential nomination got nasty. The front-runner, Ronald Reagan, said his main challenger, George H.W. Bush, wasn't a real conservative. Bush went on the attack, accusing Reagan of peddling "voodoo economics" and "a list of phony promises. " Four months later, Bush was Reagan's choice to run as vice president. He denied using the words "voodoo economics" -- or at least he did until NBC News found a videotape of the speech. Nevertheless, Bush served for eight years at Reagan's side and won his boss' endorsement when he ran in his own right in 1988.

Rick Santorum loves to push back against those who call him a “warmonger,” but Sunday at the NBC News/Facebook Republican presidential debate in Concord. N.H., he showed exactly what has some voters concerned about his hard-line stance against Iran. Moderator David Gregory noted that the United States has lived with a nuclear Soviet Union and a nuclear North Korea. “Why is it we cannot not live with a nuclear Iran?” he asked. “And if not, are you prepared to take the country to war to disarm that country?

Rick Santorum endorsed his onetime rival Mitt Romney in a long email to supporters late Monday night, calling on them to unite behind the cause of defeating President Obama in November.  Santorum, who withdrew from the race last month (and who pointed out in the late-night email that he won 11 states and over 3 million votes), spent many months urging members of his party to back his insurgent effort - arguing that Romney was not sufficiently conservative to stand against Obama in November.

PITTSBURGH - Rick Santorum dropped his presidential bid nearly a month ago, so his meeting here Friday with presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney would have seemed like the perfect opportunity to offer Romney his endorsement. But even before the 90-minute meeting took place, everyone knew that no such nod would be coming anytime soon. Santorum, like pretty much everyone else who has run in the Republican presidential contest, has embraced the party's standard-bearer with a stiff arm. Of course they will work to defeat President Obama, they say. Yet few have been willing to get behind their party's winner with anything approaching enthusiasm.

GREENSBURG, Pa. — Mitt Romney is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, and for some conservatives that is a pill still too bitter to swallow. Rep. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee came to the podium at a county GOP event in Greensburg, located in a key conservative swath of Pennsylvania, days after Romney rival Rick Santorum dropped out of the race and effectively ceded the nomination to Romney. But she couldn't bring herself to mention Romney by name. "We're going to have a presumptive nominee for 2012 really soon," she said, allowing that she was excited about the November election.

Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney may soon meet in the city of Brotherly Love. Santorum's chief strategist and veteran Pennsylvania consultant, John Brabender, said Wednesday he has spoken with Romney's campaign manager about possible dates for the two men to meet. "Coincidentally that meeting might take place here in Philadelphia," Brabender told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell. "What a great place to start a winning campaign for the fall would be right here where basically America got started.

Calling all moms Re "Romney is facing larger problem with female voters," April 13 We need to get real about Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen's comment that Ann Romney "never worked a day in her life. " Rosen wasn't saying anything derogatory about stay-at-home moms; she was speaking the truth that Ann Romney has never had to worry about paying the bills, putting food on the table, buying clothes and the cost and quality of her kids' day care. Mitt and Ann Romney are in the lucky percentage of Americans who don't know how hard many in the working class have it. They are clueless as to how financially-strapped families are dealing with today's crisis.

Rick Santorum pointedly declined Monday night to endorse presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, instead pointing out that he has not backed a candidate in the race and urging his supporters to vote their conscience. “As far as how you vote, that's up to you,” Santorum told thousands of supporters during a conference call. “I haven't supported any candidate at this point, so that's really up to you.” Part thank-you to supporters and part fundraising plea, the call took place nearly a week after Santorum dropped his bid, and eight days before his home state of Pennsylvania holds it primary.

Rick Santorum won the Colorado GOP presidential preference straw poll, according to the Colorado Republican Party. The victory means a trifecta tonight for the former Pennsylvania senator, who also won in Minnesota and Missouri. It is a significant defeat for front-runner Mitt Romney, who took 60% of the vote in the Colorado's 2008 nominating contest. John McCain , the eventual nominee, won just 18%. PHOTOS: Campaign 2012 highlights The results were announced late Tuesday on CNN by Colorado Republican Party Chairman Ryan Call.

Rick Santorum may be out of the GOP presidential race, but Democratic strategist and talking-head Hilary Rosen has given him a consolation prize. Rosen's now-notorious crack that Ann Romney has "never worked a day in her life" offers seeming vindication for Santorum's argument that liberals and feminists are engaged in a misogynistic crusade to make working outside the home the only marker of social value and self-respect. The quote is from Santorum's book, "It Takes a Family," in which he also assails parents (read women)

Rick Santorum said Thursday that he ended his presidential bid because he ran out of money, his campaign was in debt and he would have been unable to air any advertising in Pennsylvania. “Money isn't everything in politics, but you do have to have enough to be successful and we were reaching a point where we were frankly not in the position,” Santorum said in his first interview since suspending his campaign Tuesday, on the "Today's Issues" show on the American Family Radio Network.