Rick Santorum To Launch Presidential Campaign On June 6 In Pennsylvania

ABC News' Susan Archer (@TheOnlyArcher) reports:

Rick Santorum will announce his candidacy for president on June 6 in Pennsylvania, a source close to the former Pennsylvania senator told ABC News on Thursday.

Santorum will be the sixth major candidate to declare his candidacy in the wide open race for the Republican nomination.

The announcement will take place at a location in southwestern part of the state, near where his grandfather worked in the coal mines after arriving in America from Italy.

A social conservative, Santorum served as a Pennsylvania senator for two terms until 2006 when he was defeated by 18 points. However, this loss has not deterred him from a 2012 run.

Well before many of his contenders, Santorum was out campaigning heavily in battleground states. Last week he completed his 14th visit to Iowa. He's visited the Hawkeye State far more than any of the other Republican presidential nominees. Earlier this week, Santorum was in Sarasota, Florida meeting with supporters and local Republican leaders.

According to a campaign source, the location of Santorum's June 6 announcement "is significant because when Senator Santorum's grandfather left fascist Italy, he came to this country for America's freedom and the opportunity our nation afforded him."

Most recently Santorum made headlines for questioning Senator John McCain’s views on enhanced interrogation techniques stating, “He doesn’t understand how enhanced interrogation works. I mean, you break somebody, and after they’re broken, they become cooperative.”

Later, he backtracked, expressing respect and admiration for the POW and purple heart recipient’s military service.

Santorum launched his presidential exploratory committee in May and has since beefed up his staff in Iowa and New Hampshire.  He will be joining other presidential hopefuls — former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, and former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich.

It will be an uphill battle for the former senator, who is a well-known conservative voice, but is still polling in the low single digits in most national surveys.