Rick Santorum glanced Friday at the final vote tally from last November's election scribbled on a reporter's notepad.

Santorum, the former junior senator from Pennsylvania, outdistanced his opponent 87,535 votes to 62,662 votes in Lancaster County, but statewide he lost to Democrat Bob Casey Jr.

"I don't think any other county gave me numbers like that," Santorum said while attending a fundraiser for the Republican Lancaster County commissioner candidates at Clipper Magazine Stadium. "I could come back to Lancaster and thank everyone a thousand times and still not say thank you enough."

Santorum was the guest of honor at the fundraiser benefiting the campaigns of Scott Martin and Dennis Stuckey. Cost per person was $200, $300 for couples.

The pair are running against Democratic hopefuls Craig Lehman and Molly Henderson and independent Jere Swarr. Three four-year terms will be up for grabs Nov. 6.

Not only was Santorum stumping for the GOP candidates, he also threw out the game's first pitch.

It was a kind of back-scratching moment for Santorum because Martin was his campaign co-chairman in Lancaster County last year.

"Rick was very receptive" about coming to the fundraiser, Martin said. "He knows how hard we worked for him. He's coming to give back."

Stuckey and Martin expected to raise about $10,000 Friday night for a war chest that already has more than $157,000 in it from the spring primary.

Santorum has remained active in law and foreign policy since his departure from the U.S. Senate, where he rose to the rank of Senate Republican Conference chairman, the third-highest rank in the GOP's Senate leadership.

He now works as an attorney for Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott in Washington, D.C. He's also a senior fellow with Ethics and Public Policy Center, which is "dedicated to applying the Judeo-Christian moral tradition to critical issues of public policy," according to the group's Web site, www.eppc.org.

"You know the old saying, 'When God closes a window, another one opens,' " Santorum said. "Well, I've been jumping through a lot of windows."

Stuckey said with all that's going on in Santorum's career, he was amazed the former senator made an appearance in Lancaster.

"He's doing more things now than he did when he was a senator," Stuckey said. "He's on the go all the time."

Santorum said he's working on a film, although he declined to talk about specifics, and he continues to speak publicly about foreign policy issues, including the war in Iraq and threats to national security.

"I was very afraid as the result of the November election … the politicians and the public had it wrong on the war," Santorum said, referring to the Democratic takeover of Congress last November. "Somebody had to go out there and speak, somebody who isn't worried about (running for election)."

Santorum has said he doesn't plan to run again for office.

E-mail: dpidgeon@lnpnews.com