JEFFERSON TWP — Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum’s presidential campaign announcement Wednesday was not his first glimpse of the national spotlight since he left Butler High School in the 1970s.

Santorum, 57, ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 and surprised many by winning the leadoff Iowa caucuses by 34 votes.

But his strong support among social conservatives was eventually no match for the organization and fundraising prowess of eventual GOP nominee Mitt Romney.

Santorum won 11 state primaries before he announced the suspension of his campaign that year.

Before his presidential bids, Santorum served as a U.S. senator from 1995 to 2007, reaching the third-highest rank in the chamber.

He worked on welfare restructuring, achieved a federal ban on a type of late-term abortion procedure and supported the war in Iraq, along with aggressive moves against terrorists abroad. Santorum now says the war was a mistake.

His conservative views on issues like gay marriage and abortion came under scrutiny when he ran for his fourth term in 2006, as did the fact that he spent little time in his Pennsylvania home. Democrat Bob Casey Jr. dealt him a crushing defeat. Since leaving office, Santorum has been on the lecture circuit, penned several books and serves as CEO of a Christian movie studio.

Before becoming a U.S. senator, Santorum served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1991 to 1995, representing Pennsylvania’s 18th District in the suburbs of Pittsburgh.

Santorum was born in Virginia but he lived in Butler for 10 years during his youth while his parents worked at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs facility in Butler Township.

While living in Butler, he attended Butler Catholic School and Butler High School. He attended the Roman Catholic Carmel High School in Mundelein, Ill., for one year, graduating in 1976.

He attended Penn State University, where he met his wife, Karen. The couple married in 1990 and have seven children. Another child, Gabriel Michael, died in 1996, two hours after an emergency delivery. Their youngest child, Isabella, was born in 2008 with trisomy 18, a genetic disorder. Less than 10 percent of those diagnosed with the condition live to their first birthday.

After receiving his degree in political science at Penn State, he received his MBA from the University of Pittsburgh and a law degree with honors from Dickinson School of Law in 1986.

Santorum has been an author on a variety of topics. In 2005 he published “It Takes a Family,” which lauds the traditional family structure and pokes at the title of the Hillary Rodham Clinton book, “It Takes a Village.” He followed with “American Patriots: Answering the Call to Freedom,” about the American Revolution and “Blue Collar Conservatives,” which argues that Republicans should do more to appeal to blue collar workers. Santorum and his wife also wrote a book together about their daughter.

“Bella’s Gift” came out this year.