Rick Santorum suspends presidential campaign; the GOP race is effectively over
theGRIO REPORT - Rick Santorum is suspending his presidential campaign Tuesday afternoon, effectively ending the Republican primary process and conceding the nomination to former Massachusetts senator Mitt Romney....
Former Pennsylvania Rick Santorum is suspending his presidential campaign Tuesday afternoon, effectively ending the Republican primary process and conceding the nomination to former Massachusetts senator Mitt Romney.
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) and ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich still officially remain in the race, but they have struggled to compete in the major primaries (Gingrich has only won his home state and South Carolina and Paul hasn’t won any contests) and have already effectively acknowledged defeat to Romney.
But Santorum won states throughout the Midwest and South over last three weeks and aggressively contested Romney, often winning a plurality of votes of Tea Party Republicans and evangelicals who were reluctant to embrace Romney. At the same time, in the last two weeks, Santorum was showing signs of fading.
WATCH NBC NEWS COVERAGE OF SANTORUM’S SUSPENSION:
[MSNBCMSN video=”http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640″ w=”592″ h=”346″ launch_id=”47007835″ id=”msnbcd2f64″]
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
He is pulling out ahead of a series of primaries on April 24th in which he was likely to lose all of them, including one in his home state of Pennsylvania.
Santorum’s decision in effect means the campaign between President Obama and Mitt Romney can officially start. For Obama, Santorum’s continued presence in the race was helping: the ex-senator, in winning primaries in states like Alabama, was showing the lack of enthusiasm for Romney in some Southern and evangelical strongholds. And Romney was forced to move to the political right to make sure conservatives didn’t back Santorum in droves, taking risky conservative stands on contraception and immigration.
With Santorum out, Romney can now more directly campaign to the moderate voters and independents who are likely to determine who wins the fall election.
For Santorum, this campaign is likely his last major moment in politics. He is a controversial figure because of his strong opposition to abortion and gay marriage, and is very unlikely to tapped by Romney for the vice-presidential nomination, as Romney is likely to pick a more moderate figure.
Follow Perry Bacon Jr. on Twitter at @perrybaconjr
