Santorum to announce officially June 6

Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) will officially launch his presidential bid on June 6 at an event in western Pennsylvania, a Santorum adviser confirmed to The Ballot Box.

Logistics are still being worked out, but the choice of western Pennsylvania — a coal mining region — was designed to draw attention to the Santorum family’s working-class roots, his adviser said. The senator’s grandfather settled in the region after fleeing fascist Italy in the early half of the last century.

{mosads}The announcement event will have a more “traditional” feel, the adviser said.

Santorum launched an exploratory committee earlier this year.

Some of the other GOP presidential candidates have opted to use multimedia tools to announce their candidacies. Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) declared over Twitter and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty announced his presidential exploratory committee in a Web video in March via his Facebook page. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney used Twitter to link to a Web video announcing his exploratory committee.

Santorum, who is known as a staunch conservative on social issues, has been in the exploratory phase of his bid for much of the last year, traveling regularly to early primary states. On Wednesday, his campaign announced several more public endorsements from New Hampshire.

–Updated at 4:18 p.m.