Rick Santorum Announces Presidential Run

Just saw this as a "Breaking" banner headline up on Yahoo News.  Boston Hearld has more.

Update: Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania says he’s running for president.

Below is an earlier version of this story

SOMERSET, Pa. — Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum was set to announce on Monday what has been expected for months: He is running for president.

Santorum, the former No. 3 Republican in the U.S. Senate and a favorite among his party’s anti-abortion rights bloc, planned to make official his White House aspirations from the western Pennsylvania coal fields where his Italian immigrant grandfather worked. He has already hired a small staff and has made frequent visits to early voting states New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina.

The blunt-talking conservative lacks the name recognition and fundraising organization of his better-known rivals, but the two-term senator’s advisers are counting on social conservatives who have huge sway in some early nominating states and have yet to settle on a favorite candidate.