Rick Santorum Trending on Google

Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum is celebrating his birthday today. The best present on his birthday is being a trending topic on Google. After being mentioned on last night’s Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Santorum is, 12th on Google Trends.

Except the popularity is leading people to find out something less than spicy regarding the former Senator from Pennsylvania.

Santorum is the sufferer of a Google bomb, or briefly, the intentional exploitation of page rankings on Google search. The most famous Google bomb took place back in 2004 when an effort made it so George W. Bush’s bio page was result No.1 when users searched the phrase “miserable failure.”

If you search “Rick Santorum” on Google, the top result just under the news section is not wikipedia, or his official website – it’s a rather interesting fake explanation.

The Google bomb campaign began at the request of popular blogger Dan Savage back in 2003. Santorum had made some statements comparing homosexuality to pedophilia and bestiality, which perceptibly disturb the gay community. They decided to fight back by controlling the page results to display their preferred clarification of the then Senator right at the top. It worked, and this is what search results for “Rick Santorum” have looked like for years.

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Santorum

Washington (CNN) - Rick Santorum's political travels will take him back to the first-in-the-south primary state of South Carolina next week as he prepares for a likely presidential bid.

The former Pennsylvania Senator will travel to Republican-heavy Greenville and Spartanburg next Monday for two days of glad-handing with party activists and a meeting at the home of South Carolina Republican Party Chairwoman Karen Floyd, a Santorum adviser told CNN.

While other Republicans in the early presidential field have barely set foot in South Carolina, which has voted for every GOP presidential nominee in every primary going back to 1980, Santorum will be making his tenth visit in the state.

Santorum, an unapologetic conservative on social issues, has scheduled a series of private meetings with conservative activists in Greenville, a hub for the state's evangelical community. And on Monday evening, he will address a dinner sponsored by the Palmetto House Republican Women's Club in Spartanburg.

The following day, Santorum will speak to the students and faculty of Oakbrook Preparatory School, a Christian academy in Spartanburg.

That appearance will be followed by a lunchtime meet-and-greet with activists at Floyd's home in Spartanburg.

Floyd recently sparked controversy by holding a private meeting at her consulting firm with Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who is also seriously considering a presidential bid.

Republican critics accused Floyd, whose term ends in May, of using her position as party chair to line up a job with a presidential candidate. Floyd dismissed the accusation and said she planned to meet with other candidates in the coming weeks and months.

Floyd will also host a meet and greet for Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann at her consulting firm on Saturday. Bachmann is traveling to South Carolina on Friday evening, her first visit to the state as she contemplates a presidential run.

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