美国前参议员里克.桑托勒姆星期三将宣布竞选共和党总统候选人提名。这是他第二次竞选总统。
57岁的桑托勒姆将在宾州一家制造厂宣布参选。他1991年到2007年曾代表宾州出任联邦众议员和参议员，但2007年竞选连任参议员失败。
桑托勒姆第一次竞选共和党候选人时并不被看好，但令政治观察家感到吃惊是他却在有影响力的艾奥华州共和党党团投票中以微弱多数击败罗姆尼，并以他强烈的社会保守主义吸引了很多支持者。接着他又在10个州赢得共和党的选票，但最终还是输给了获得共和党提名的罗姆尼。
尽管2012年竞选政绩不错，桑托勒姆这次参选仍将是一场苦战。目前已有10几位共和党人正式宣布或考虑宣布参加竞选党内提名，包括前州长杰布·布什和赫卡比，参议员保罗、卢比奥和克鲁兹，以及退休外科医生卡森等，其中很多人具有很强的社会保守主义业绩。
White House on Wednesday, joining an already crowded field seeking the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
The 57-year-old Santorum will make the announcement at a manufacturing plant in Pennsylvania, the state he represented in both the House and Senate for several years from 1991 until 2007, when he lost his Senate re-election bid.
Santorum was little regarded when he launched his first bid for the Republican nomination in 2012, but stunned political observers when he narrowly won the influential Iowa party caucuses over Mitt Romney, drawing supporters attracted to his strong social conservatism. Santorum went on to win 10 more state caucuses and primaries before his campaign lost momentum to Romney, the party's eventual nominee.
Despite his strong showing in 2012, Santorum faces another uphill battle in the upcoming race, with well over a dozen candidates who have either formally entered or are considering entering the race, including former governors Jeb Bush and Mike Huckabee, current senators Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, and retired surgeon Ben Carson, many with strong social conservative credentials.
