Santorum Announces Presidential Bid

Rick Santorum has officially announced his 2012 run for president.

On a Monday Good Morning America appearance, the former Pennsylvania senator told ABC's George Stephanopoulos, "We're ready to get into this race, and we're in it to win it."

Though he trails significantly in current polling behind former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (who has formally announced his presidential bid) and Sarah Palin (who has yet to do so), Santorum said his principled stance on conservative issues -- he's a steadfast opponent of abortion rights and gay marriage -- gives him an edge. The former number 3 Senate Republican lost his 2006 reelection bid to Democratic challenger Bob Casey Jr. by an 18-point margin.

"What people are looking for is someone who has stood by their principles in good times and bad. I stood up and I didn't back away," Santorum said.

The run-up to Santorum's campaign announcement hasn't been without gaffes. He has raised campaign funds under the slogan "Fighting to Make America America Again" -- one that bears a striking resemblance to the famous poem "Let America Be America Again" by pro-union and gay rights advocate Langston Hughes.

"I didn't know that. The folks who worked on that slogan for me didn't inform me that that's where it came from, if in fact it came from that," Santorum said in April in response to a question from ThinkProgress.

Santorum's anti-marriage equality comments during his political career also are legion: In a 2003 interview he told the Associated Press, "In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be."

Read more about Santorum's announcement at ABC News.