Rick Santorum officially suspends presidential campaign
By Naheed Rajwani
April 11, 2012 2:14 a.m.
Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum suspended his campaign Tuesday, making Mitt Romney the likely nominee for the upcoming presidential election in November.
“While this presidential race … is over for me and we will suspend our campaign today, we are not done fighting,” Santorum said in a speech delivered from Gettysburg, Pa. Tuesday afternoon.
The announcement came after Santorum cancelled several campaign events this weekend after his youngest daughter, who has a rare genetic disorder, was hospitalized with pneumonia Friday, according to an article by the Los Angeles Times. She was released Tuesday, the article stated.
Santorum’s campaign had seen declining financial support and it was unlikely he would garner enough delegate votes to get the Republican ticket, said Thomas Schwartz, professor of political science who focuses on American politics.
To earn the official Republican nomination, candidates must win the support of 1152 total Republican delegates. Mitt Romney, the current frontrunner, has earned 661 delegates so far. Before suspending his campaign, Santorum had earned 285 delegates. Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul trailed behind with 136 and 51 delegates, respectively.
Santorum’s withdrawal will save Romney a lot of money and time in terms of campaigning, and it may also help Santorum instead get nominated for vice president, Schwartz said.
“Santorum dropping out of the race is a huge step forward for Mitt Romney,” said Darren Ramalho, a second-year political science and English student and internal vice chairman of Bruin Republicans. “It brings Romney one step closer to being the official Republican candidate.”
Despite Santorum’s withdrawal, both Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich reiterated their intention to remain in the presidential race.
“We plan to continue running hard, secure delegates, and press the fight for limited, constitutional government in Tampa,” Jesse Benton, the national campaign chairman for Ron Paul, said in a statement.
It is not entirely unusual to have candidates remain in a presidential race for a long time even though their chances of winning the official nomination are slim, Schwartz said.
In 1992, for example, Pat Buchanan, who garnered fewer than 100 total delegates, stayed in the race until the end.
The Republican nominee will not be officially announced until the National Republican Convention in August, but Bruin Republicans and Bruin Democrats are already assuming Romney will be the likely candidate.
“Now that we’ve cleared the field (with Santorum’s withdrawal from the race), it’s time to move on to more important issues,” said Jonathan Bash, a third-year political science student and president of Bruin Democrats.
Both Ramalho and Bash said Bruin Republicans and Bruin Democrats will start preparing for the November election by volunteering at local phone banks and registering voters.
