Apparently, a dog once relieved itself on former Sen. Rick Santorum. Upon hearing this — and… Apparently, a dog once relieved itself on former Sen. Rick Santorum. Upon hearing this — and as someone who has often had a tenuous relationship with canines because of my lifelong affection for cats — I felt endeared to the species for the first time ever.

Santorum, a 2012 presidential contender, recounted this story to a group of GOP activists at the Spartanburg County Republican Convention last week, according to Politico.com. I suppose it was some sort of attempt to garner some chuckles and show he’s just an average guy rather than a very self-interested politician, which he is.

For those who don’t know Santorum or don’t remember him — lucky you. I remember all too clearly his dark reign as a senator in Pennsylvania — which was noted more for his outrageous and unapologetic comments than his movement of legislation.

I don’t dislike Santorum so vehemently because he is conservative and I am liberal. We disagree on nearly every issue — abortion, gay rights, immigration, foreign policy, Social Security and the list goes on. But this is the United States, and I understand that not everyone shares my political beliefs.

In fact, there are plenty of conservatives who I respect, despite such differences of opinion — Mitt Romney, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and, yes, even George W. Bush — because I believe they care about their constituents and believe their policies will create a better country.

I can’t say the same for Santorum.

Never mind that he believes that the legislative branch should have power over the Supreme Court.

Never mind that he blamed the people and culture of Boston for that clergy-sexual-abuse scandal.

Never mind that he wrote a bill that would, in effect, prohibit the National Weather Service from providing information to the public, instead forcing them to pay for such intel from a private-sector company, such as AccuWeather — conveniently based out of State College, Pa.

Never mind that Santorum and his wife, Karen, brought home the deceased fetus of their prematurely born son so that their children could spend the night with it, as detailed in Karen’s book “Letters to Gabriel: The True Story of Gabriel Michael Santorum.”

What I can’t forget — and what I hope the rest of Pennsylvania has not forgotten — is Santorum’s blatant disrespect and abuse of his own constituents.

I’m speaking, of course, about the Pennsylvania residency controversy. For those who don’t remember, whereas Santorum maintained a legal address in Penn Hills, Pa., — a three-bedroom house purchased for $87,800 — he, as well as his wife and children, spent the majority of their time in a $643,000 house, located in a Virginian suburb of Washington, D.C.

Here’s where it gets sketchy. Five of Santorum’s seven children attended the Western Pennsylvania Cyber Charter School, and 80 percent of that tuition was paid for by the Penn Hills School District, costing Penn Hills taxpayers $38,000 per year, according to the Post-Gazette. And let’s just say Penn Hills is no Mt. Lebanon when it comes to money.

Ultimately, when the school district’s board argued that Santorum was not a Penn Hills resident and thus should refund the money, Santorum refused, and the state Department of Education settled the dispute by paying $55,000 to the school district, according to the Post-Gazette.

Santorum paid nothing, and continued to think he was in the right on this matter.

Given this, Santorum is the worst of the GOP presidential contenders — save for maybe Donald Trump — because, frankly, he cares about the people in this country about as much as the average American cares about algae or the most recent “X-Files” movie.

For now, Santorum is a dark horse. But then again, when The Donald announced the possibility of running for president, I laughed my ass off. Now, according to a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, he is tied with Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee for second place with GOP voters, with 17 percent. Mitt Romney had 21 percent.

This scares me.

What’s more, according to Politico, “Santorum scored a decisive victory in a straw poll held Saturday among Republicans in South Carolina’s largest county,” by receiving 31 percent of the votes.

If Boston is the “seat of academic, political and cultural liberalism in America” (Santorum’s words, not mine), then South Carolina — one could argue — is the conservative yin to Boston’s yang, as well as being the first Southern state to vote in the primary elections, making it very influential.

Santorum is making the rounds in other states, too. According to the Boston Herald, Santorum has visited New Hampshire 12 times; Iowa and South Carolina 13 times each and Nevada once.

In essence — don’t underestimate Santorum’s position in this race.

The night Democratic Sen. Bob Casey Jr. defeated Santorum almost five years ago is still a vivid memory for me. He lost by almost 20 percentage points, according to the Post-Gazette, the largest margin of defeat ever for an incumbent Republican Senator in Pennsylvania.

That night I was proud to be a Pennsylvanian — I should mention that on the same night, Rep. Jason Altmire, D-Pa., defeated the vile Melissa Hart; way to go District 4! Pennsylvania might be a swing state that finds appeal in some of Santorum’s social policies, but it doesn’t take sh*t.

Hopefully the rest of the country won’t, either.

E-mail Molly at [email protected].