'19 Kids and Counting' Duggar Family Stumps for Rick Santorum in Iowa

(NewsCore) - Jim Bob Duggar, from TLC's "19 Kids and Counting," was in Iowa Monday campaigning for Rick Santorum in advance of the state's Jan. 3 caucuses.

The Duggar family patriarch traveled with 12 of his children to the Hawkeye State from their home in Arkansas -- with the message that voters with "conservative family values have to get behind Rick Santorum for President."

Jim Bob and his wife Michelle are strong evangelicals, known for their ever-expanding brood, as is chronicled on their reality show that just wrapped up its eighth season.

Santorum, 53, is a conservative Catholic and has a family of seven children. He and his wife Karen are proponents of homeschooling, which the Duggar family also supports.

The clan previously supported former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Iowa in his bid for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008.

Santorum's surge in the polls was confirmed late Sunday, with a survey by Public Policy Polling (PPP) placing the former Pennsylvania senator, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Rep. Ron Paul all within two points of one another.

The poll had Paul leading with 20 percent, narrowly ahead of Romney at 19 percent and Santorum at 18 percent.