Rick Santorum is headed back to the state where his dreams of becoming the nation's 44th president went up in smoke six years ago, but says he's not interested in launching another run for the White House in 2020.
The former GOP senator from Pennsylvania has been tapped to speak this Thursday at a gala for Michigan State University's Political Leadership Program (MPLP).
The Wolverine State is where Santorum, who had been the Senate's third-ranking Republican from 2001 to 2007, finished second to rival Mitt Romney in a pivotal primary for the 2012 presidential election.
"If I had been able to pull out Michigan, this would have had a very different result," Santorum said to the Detroit Free Press.
Santorum, now a senior political commentator for CNN, also told the newspaper's Carol Cain that he will not throw his hat in the ring for the presidency again. President Donald Trump has already said he will seek a second term in 2020.
The former lawmaker will be joined at the Michigan State event by former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, who lost to Hillary Clinton in his bed to capture the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.
"Santorum and O'Malley saw the 2016 voters and eventual nominees up close," said Matt Grossmann, director of MSU's Institute for Public Policy and Social Research.
"We are excited to invite former presidential contenders and accomplished public officials to help us understand how 2016 changed each political party and how each is evolving or fracturing going into 2018."
The Michigan Political Leadership Program recruits individuals "committed to community service" and leads them through 10 months of "specialized tours, training and bipartisan learning activities" in preparing for careers in politics.
Eleven MPLP graduates now serve in the Michigan State Legislature -- four in the Senate and seven in the House.
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