Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum poses for photographs Thursday during the March for Life anti-abortion rally in Washington. Santorum was undoubtedly an underdog the last time around in Iowa, and even he admits most voters probably don't remember how he rallied to kick off the 2012 presidential election with a win in the state's lead-off caucus. He's considering another run.

DES MOINES, Iowa — Rick Santorum admits that most people probably don’t remember how he rallied to kick off the 2012 presidential election with a win in the lead-off Iowa caucuses.

Four years later, he’s still an underdog. That suits him just fine, even if his dogged embrace of that role keeps his advisers up at night.

“One of the great gifts I’ve had in my political career is I’ve been overlooked and underestimated,” Santorum said. “And I expect that’s going to happen again. It’s always worked in my benefit.”

The former Pennsylvania senator, who visited each of Iowa’s 99 counties while campaigning ahead of the last Iowa caucus, often with just a single aide along for the ride, says he’s months away from making a decision about whether to run for president a second time. That he’s spending the next five days in Iowa, including delivering a speech Saturday at a forum hosted by Iowa Rep. Steve King and featuring several of the GOP’s 2016 prospects, is as sure a sign as any that he plans another run.

Should Santorum formally get into the 2016 race, he’ll face competition for the support of evangelical and social conservatives that is likely to be significantly more formidable than in 2012. He will also need to avoid the disorganization that plagued his last campaign if he’s to have any chance of making a serious run at the nomination.

“The landscape has changed. The ground has shifted. This is not 2011. The stakes are higher. The players on the field have changed,” said Jamie Johnson, a member of the Iowa Republican Party’s state central committee.

Johnson supported Santorum in 2012, although his role with the party now keeps him from backing a candidate. And this time, he said, there are simply so many more from which to choose. “In 2011, there was no Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee or Rand Paul, and Rick Perry 2.0 is going to be much more real,” Johnson said.

All but Paul will be at King’s event Saturday, along with Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon who is drawing interest from conservative activists.