would you like your fellow TOLers to know about them? [Factbox: Presidential candidate Rick Santorum]: "(Reuters) - Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum competes in the New Hampshire primary election on Thursday in the Republican race to find a challenger to President Barack Obama in November's presidential election.
Here are some facts about him.
* A fervent Catholic, Santorum described himself in New Hampshire this week as the "the Jesus candidate." He is best known for his opposition to abortion, criticism of homosexuality and the teaching of evolution in schools.
* The grandson of an Italian immigrant coal miner, Santorum has seven children.
* His campaign website says Santorum was a "Tea Party kind of guy before there was a Tea Party." He says he fought for fiscal reform like balancing the U.S. budget and revising entitlement programs "before it was in fashion."
* Santorum narrowly lost last week's Iowa caucuses by eight votes. He visited all 99 Iowa counties in the campaign.
* In 2003, Santorum took heat for comments appearing to equate homosexuality with incest, bigamy, adultery and polygamy. In an interview, Santorum said the Supreme Court should uphold state sodomy laws like a Texas law that was before the high court. "If the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery," Santorum said.
* Santorum, 53, represented the battleground state of Pennsylvania in Congress, serving first as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and then as a U.S. senator. Santorum, a forceful debater, rose to become chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, making him the third-ranking Senate Republican. But Pennsylvania voters threw him out of the Senate by an 18-point margin in 2006 after a bruising battle in which he was hit for his staunch support of then-President George W. Bush..." Full text: Factbox: Presidential candidate Rick Santorum
[Factbox: Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich (Reporting by Lily Kuo and Deborah Charles; Editing by Alistair Bell and Stacey Joyce)]: "(Reuters) - Former Speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich takes part in the New Hampshire primary election on Tuesday in the race to pick a Republican candidate to oppose President Barack Obama in 2012.
Here are a few facts about him.
* As speaker, Gingrich was the main architect of the 1994 election victory that gave Republicans control of Congress for the first time in decades. He forced a showdown with then-President Bill Clinton over the federal budget that ended in a partial government shutdown. Gingrich also started the impeachment drive against Clinton for his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. But Gingrich's Republicans suffered major losses in the 1998 midterm elections.
* Thrice-married, Gingrich admits he has made mistakes in his personal life, including cheating on his first and second wives. He has since converted to Catholicism and says he has asked for God's forgiveness.
* Long a visible Republican figure with a reputation as one his party's most creative thinkers, Gingrich is the author of some two dozen books. His "21st Century Contract with America," an update of his 1990s "Contract with America," is a blueprint for recapturing the spirit of the 1994 Republican takeover of Congress. He is also known for an abrasive and often condescending tone with critics - an image he has tried to rehabilitate during his campaign.
* Gingrich, 68, was recently the popular conservative alternative to former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, but his surge may have come too early. In the Iowa caucuses, he plunged to fourth place from first in polls after being pummeled by negative ads from his rivals criticizing him for his past as a Washington power-broker.
* Many of Gingrich's senior campaign staff resigned en masse in June, questioning the candidate's commitment to his campaign when he left for a two-week Aegean Sea cruise with his wife instead of touring early primary states. He was also criticized for maintaining a credit line at the upscale jewelry store Tiffany & Co. "Philosophically, I am very different from normal politicians, and normal consultants found that very hard to deal with," Gingrich said in response to his staff problems.
* In 1998, Gingrich announced his resignation from the House after Republicans suffered losses in congressional elections amid an ethics investigation and growing opposition within his own party. He was found in violation of House ethics rules involving a book deal and fined $300,000.
* Gingrich's critics have seized on his record in Washington, including taking $1.6 million in consulting fees from the mortgage company Freddie Mac, which was at the heart of the 2008 financial crisis..." Full text: Factbox: Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich
[Factbox: Presidential candidate Mitt Romney]: "(Reuters) - Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney takes part in the New Hampshire primary election on Tuesday in the race for the Republican nomination to challenge President Barack Obama in November.
Here are some facts about him.
* Romney, 64, has remained at the front of the pack among the Republican candidates in his second campaign to win the party's nomination. But he has not been embraced by Republicans as the clear favorite. His rivals have jumped into the lead for weeks at a time. He won last week's Iowa caucuses by the tiny margin of 8 votes.
* He is a fifth-generation Mormon whose forebears were involved in the religious movement from the mid-19th century. Romney spent 30 months in France as a Mormon missionary in the 1960s, and speaks French. Some Christian groups and voters don't consider Mormonism a form of Christianity.
* As governor of Massachusetts, Romney instituted statewide healthcare reform that became a model for Obama's national policy. Romney has defended the state law while calling for the repeal of Obama's federal version, a tricky balancing act.
* Romney, a former venture capitalist, has centrist Republican proposals to cut corporate taxes, reduce federal regulations and cut spending. But he is seen by some as out of step with ordinary Americans. During one Republican debate Romney offered to bet $10,000 in a back-and-forth with Texas Governor Rick Perry.
* Multimillionaire Romney has been a strong fundraiser - with more money than any of the other Republican candidates. If the primary contest becomes drawn out, his extensive funds could help him outlast someone like former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has raised much less.
* Animal rights groups criticized Romney during the 2008 campaign for an incident in 1983 when he drove 12 hours to Canada from Boston on vacation with the family dog in a crate strapped to the roof of their car..." Full text: Factbox: Presidential candidate Mitt Romney
