Rick Santorum Candidate Profile

Education: Santorum has a history of supporting school choice. But not too much choice: He also has a history of supporting national schooling standards. He voted for the No Child Left Behind bill in 2001.

Energy: Santorum favors a "comprehensive all-of-the-above energy strategy" aimed at "advancing not just energy independence, but energy security." He currently stresses the deregulatory aspects of that agenda—he wants to "reduce the regulatory barriers that are hindering oil, gas, and coal industries"—but he has an on-again, off-again history of support for energy subsidies as well. In 2008 he called for Washington to "mandate that all cars sold in the United States...be 'flex-fuel vehicles'—that is, they should be able to run on a blend that is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline."

Religious? Very. A Catholic who's fond of fusing his faith with his politics, Santorum says he's "appalled" at John F. Kennedy's endorsement of "an America where the separation of church and state is absolute," calling the comment a "radical statement" that did "great damage." He has also claimed that the Founders believed that religion "was not just an essential element, but the essence of civilization and the inspiration of culture." He once told National Public Radio, "If Darwin is right, I have organized my life around an illusion. We have no moral demands if we are evolved."

Horoscope for 2011: "If the past few years have been difficult, Taurus, you'll be relieved to know that 2011 is going to be better than previous years," reports Horoscope.com. “The tension you've experienced will definitely lighten up!”

Campaign site: www.ricksantorum.com

Reason on Santorum:

• "Erasing the 'I' from Marriage," by Shikha Dalmia, July 19, 2011
• "Conservatives and 'Personal Autonomy'," by Michael C. Moynihan, December 10, 2009
• "The Myth of the 'Values Voters,'" by David Weigel, January 2007
• "The Audacity of a Dope, by David Weigel, November 13, 2006
• "Penn Statists," by David Weigel, November 2006
• "Rick Santorum's Convictions," by Jacob Sullum, October 31, 2006
• "It's Not, You Know, Man on Elf, Man on Orc, Or Whatever the Case May Be," by David Weigel, October 18, 2006
• "Rick Santorum Debates Invisible Man, by David Weigel, September 25, 2006
• "Rick Santorum, Nader Raider," by David Weigel, August 2, 2006
• "Rick Santorum and the Right to Privacy," by David Weigel, May 23, 2006
• "Santorum and Intelligent Design," by Jeff Taylor, December 22, 2005
• "Goodbye to Goldwater," by Jonathan Rauch, December 2005
• "That Frothy Mix of Statism and the GOP," by Matt Welch, August 4, 2005
• "Two Senaters Who Make You Say 'Pew,'" by Tim Cavanaugh, July 14, 2005
• "K Street Cred," by Julian Sanchez, September 16, 2003
• "In the Bedroom," by Jacob Sullum, May 2, 2003
• "This Is My Private Life," by Cathy Young, April 29, 2003
• "Private Parts," by Ronald Bailey, April 23, 2003
• "Michael and Me," by Mike Lynch, February 1999