Jim Bob Duggar has taken his small army of children with him to Iowa.
The star of TLC’s 19 Kids and Counting joined the campaign for former senator Rick Santorum on Monday, the eve of the state’s presidential caucuses.
Jim Bob, and the 12 children he brought with him, enter the race as Santorum narrows the gap between himself and G.O.P. frontrunners Mitt Romney and Ron Paul in the Hawkeye State.
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“We are calling on Christian conservatives around the country to come together and send Rick to the White House,” Duggar said to one crowd, reports The Telegraph.
Duggar, who also brought his mother and sister on the trip, made the drive from their home in Arkansas himself. He pointed to what he thought of as Romney’s loose stance on abortion as a reason for endorsing Santorum.
As for his candidate of choice, Duggar and Santorum do have a bit in common. While Santorum and wife Karen don’t have as big of a family as the Duggars, they have raised a brood of seven. The Duggars are also advocates for homeschooling, something of which Santorum is also a proponent.
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This does not mark the first time the Duggars have endorsed a candidate. Though their TLC series didn’t premiere until the fall of 2008, well after the year’s republican primaries, they publicly supported Governor Mike Huckabee during his unsuccessful bid at the presidency.
Jim Bob’s wife Michelle did not attend with the family. She suffered a miscarriage in December.
