MECHANICSBURG — Rick Santorum is "definitely considering" another run for the Republican nomination for president in 2016, he said Tuesday in Mechanicsburg, but he won't decide until after the 2014 election cycle.

The former Pennsylvania senator and 2012 GOP presidential candidate said he'll decide "sometime next year," and he's not "doing anything inconsistent with running for president."

If attendees of his book signing at Tremendous Life Books on North York Street listened to the content of his message, they might've been convinced he already was.

And if he were, the book he was there to sign, "Blue Collar Conservatives," might've been considered the foundation of a platform.

Standing in front of a large U.S. flag, Santorum talked about transforming the Republican Party paradigm to make blue-collar workers know they're welcome in a party that he said has left them unrepresented in the rhetoric.

He talked about things a president can do to reduce regulation. He talked about creating family-sustaining jobs, improving education and encouraging two-parent homes. He poked at President Barack Obama's immigration policies.

He talked about growing up in western Pennsylvania and not knowing anyone who belonged to a country club, recalling how nobody "looked down their noses" at the kids who were pursuing a career in the trades.

Event moderator R.J. Harris, conservative radio host on WHP AM 580, left one question with a dangling invitation for Santorum to explain why people should "vote for a fella like you."

And Santorum said the blue-collar Republican platform needs to become the focus of a movement lead by someone, like him, who can unite people.

The event ended with an invitation to make a donation and sign up for newsletters, accepted by many of the nearly 90 people who attended.

"I'm hoping he runs again," said Nancy Garner, a 62-year-old who drove from Perry County with her husband for the event. "He's conservative, for the working people, and not depending on the government."

Santorum told the crowd that his wife, Karen Santorum, was the last person to agree to his 2012 candidacy and the last to give up hope when he suspended his campaign that April.

She told him that, if he withdrew from that race, his emphasis should immediately turn to 2016, he said, but her "adrenaline high" later wore off.

Santorum said he's traveling around the country to promote the book, including a stop in Iowa in two weeks.

The 56-year-old was a U.S. senator from 1995 to 2007, losing his 2006 re-election bid to Democrat U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr.

He announced his suspension from the GOP presidential race, the last candidate remaining with nominee Mitt Romney, after having won 11 primaries and caucuses and receiving nearly 4 million votes.