Spotlight on Santorum

He became a frontrunner too late to face much criticism before the Republicans’ Iowa caucus. But Rick Santorum is now under fire for his stance on a number of issues, writes Marcus Stern

RICK SANTORUM’S last-minute surge in the Iowa caucus brought him neck-and-neck with Mitt Romney in the first contest of the 2012 race to select a Republican presidential candidate. But it came too late to attract the harsh scrutiny usually visited on frontrunners.

Only in recent days have questions emerged about his stand on abortion, his votes in Congress, and his endorsements of Romney over John McCain in 2008, and senator Arlen Specter over Pat Toomey in 2004.