Rick Santorum To Meet With Anti-Same Sex Marriage Activists Monday In Washington State On The Day Governor Gregoire Expected To Sign Gay Marriage Bill Into Law

Washington will become a flash point in the nation's culture wars on Monday, as Republican presidential contender Rick Santorum brings his socially conservative message to the state on the same day Governor Chris Gregoire is expected to sign a bill legalizing same sex marriage. The Seattle Times reports that in his first foray here in advance of the state's March 3 GOP caucuses, Santorum is planning a 7:00 pm campaign rally Monday at the Washington State History Museum in Tacoma, according to plans sent by his campaign to state Republican leaders. Before that, Santorum will meet at an Olympia church with a group of "values voters" opposed to gay marriage. Santorum is also expected to meet with the state House and Senate Republican caucuses, said Kirby Wilbur, state GOP chairman. It is the first scheduled visit from one of the Republican presidential contenders ahead of the GOP caucuses, which will be a prize this year with the party's nomination battle nowhere near settled. Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator, has been riding a recent tide of popularity among Republican voters looking for an alternative to former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. He swept Republican contests this week in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri, and a Fox News poll showed him tied with Romney nationally among GOP primary voters. Santorum's Washington visit will coincide with Gregoire's planned signing of the bill approved by the Legislature that would make Washington the seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage. A hero among many social conservatives and a villain to gay rights supporters — Santorum has said that gay marriage undermines society and families. In 2003, he said a Supreme Court decision legalizing homosexual sex could create a precedent allowing bigamy, polygamy and incest. The Santorum campaign did not respond to requests for comment on the timing of his visit.