Report: Rick Santorum to make decision on another presidential run next June

Rick Santorum, Pennsylvania's favorite political whipping boy as well as the state's most likely connection to a presidential hopeful in 2016, told a news website Monday that he will announce this summer whether he has another run in him.

The former U.S. senator and also-ran in the 2011 Republican presidential primary (he finished second to Mitt Romney) told Washington, D.C.-based Politico that he would likely announce one way or another in June 2015.

"Four years ago, we ended up announcing in June of 2011," he told the site. "If past is a portent of the future, that's probably a ballpark."

He said he's "doing everything" that a would-be candidate for the nation's highest office would do in the build-up to a decision of whether or not to run. Translation: He's talking with big money donors and evaluating his chances in early primary states like Iowa and New Hampshire.

His conservative stance on many issues made him a viable option for some Republican voters in 2011. Santorum's willingness to stick around and compete with the heavy favorite, Romney, also earned him some positive results. He told Politico he expects another drawn-out affair in 2016.

"The idea that we're going to somehow or another choose a candidate at the beginning of this process and have a coronation, that's just not going to happen," Santorum said.