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Senator Rick Santorum has effectively ended his bid for the Republican Nomination for President of the United States Tuesday, delivering a 12 minute speech explaining that he is “suspending” his presidential campaign. The reasons as to why are unclear, though he did cite that he wants to help his 3-year-old daughter recover from catching pneumonia.
“We made a decision to get into this race at our kitchen table, against all the odds, and we made a decision over the weekend that while this presidential race is over for me, and we will suspect our campaign effective today, we are not done fighting,” he said during his address in Gettysburg, Pa.
Despite surprising Romney in a few of the preliminaries, including when he took Iowa, Santorum was still behind Romney in the votes, and showed some signs of losing his home state. He was also upset over how the Texas primary was to take placing, wishing it would be a “winner take all” campaign, but not getting it. His spokesman also noted that Ginsberg has been an obstacle in his campaign against Romney.
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus commented on Santorum’s decision:
“Today, Senator Santorum has made a commendable decision. He has decided to put his country, party, and desire to defeat President Obama ahead of any personal ambition. I applaud his decision and congratulate him on the campaign he has run.”
The Romney campaign also responded:
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“Senator Santorum is an able and worthy competitor, and I congratulate him on the campaign he ran. He has proven himself to be an important voice in our party and in the nation. We both recognize that what is most important is putting the failures of the last three years behind us and setting America back on the path to prosperity.”
Romney is also planning to meet up with Santorum, and garner, if he can, Santorum’s endorsement.
Newt Gingrich also used the moment to bash Romney and indemnify himself:
“I think it makes it clearer that there’s a conservative, named Newt Gingrich, and there’s Mitt Romney,” he said, according to Justin Sink of The Hill. “I have a great, great respect for how hard Rick worked, he was the personification of courage.”
“We needed New to step aside a long time ago,” said Santorum’s Spokesman Hogan Gidley. He also commented on the Texas primary problem:
“Texas had to be winner take all,” said Gidley. “That would have been very, very helpful. Obviously, that is 155 delegates sitting on the table, and we know there have been some … within the conservative movement trying to get that accomplished. But that was becoming increasingly difficult.”
Santorum made no reference to Romney in his farewell speech, and it is unclear if he will revoke his attitude and stance and his words that he would rather see Obama win than Romney.
