Thousands gathered in Barnesville Saturday for the pumpkin festival, and Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn., made his way there to campaign with U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Ohio.

“Sen. Santorum is very well thought of here along the river, and it's great to have him here not only to celebrate the pumpkin festival but to advance the pushback on the war on coal," said Johnson.

Santorum spoke to a big crowd at the Veterans Memorial Plaza, shook hands and signed autographs. He said since his last trip to the Ohio Valley, some things are still the same.

"The issues are the same, what we talked about last time are very much the same," said Santorum. "The objective when I was out here last time was to defeat Barack Obama."

The Obama campaign responded to Santorum's stop in Belmont County.

NEWS9 received this message from the campaign: "President Obama believes economic growth comes from the middle out, not the top down. He wants to see everyone pay their fair share and will protect and strengthen Medicare. Eastern Ohio families simply cannot afford the Romney-Ryan plan, and that is why they will be supporting the president this fall."