By Lisa Lerer - Apr 11, 2012 5:49 AM GMT+0700
Former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania announced today the suspension of his presidential campaign, removing the last major hurdle for Mitt Romney to claim the Republican Party’s nomination.
“We made the decision to enter this race at our kitchen table against all the odds,” Santorum said from a podium in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where he was flanked by family members. “And we made a decision over the weekend that while this presidential race for us is over, for me, -- we will suspend our campaign effective today -- we are not done fighting.”
Rick Santorum announces he will be suspending his campaign at the Gettysburg Hotel on April 10, 2012 in Pennsylvania. Photographer: Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
April 10 (Bloomberg) -- Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania talks about his decision to end his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. Santorum speaks in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. (This report is an excerpt. Source: Bloomberg)
April 10 (Bloomberg) -- Former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania announced today that he is suspending his bid for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. (Source: Bloomberg)
April 10 (Bloomberg) -- former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania Rick Santorum speaks at a news conference about his decision to suspend his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. Santorum speaks in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. (Source: Bloomberg)
Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum speaks to supporters in front of the Blair County Courthouse during a campaign rally on April 4, 2012, in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania. Photographer: Paul J. Richard /AFP/Getty Images
Santorum called Romney before making his announcement. Viewed as a minor contender when he officially entered the Republican race last June, Santorum emerged as the front- runner’s main rival. Recent primary losses, though, put him far behind in the race for the delegates needed for their party’s nomination.
Santorum’s home state of Pennsylvania will hold a primary on April 24, and polls showed he might suffer a politically embarrassing loss to Romney.
‘Important Voice’
In a statement, Romney said Santorum was “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.”
At a rally later in Wilmington, Delaware, Romney said, “This has been a good day for me.”
He also said Santorum “will continue to have a major role in the Republican Party.”
Jim Messina, manager of President Barack Obama’s re- election campaign, used Santorum’s announcement as an opportunity to take shots at Romney, long regarded by the Democrats as their likely foe in November’s elections.
“It’s no surprise that Mitt Romney finally was able to grind down his opponents under an avalanche of negative ads,” Messina said in a statement, referring to the financial advantage Romney and his allies have had in the Republican race. “But neither he nor his special interest allies will be able to buy the presidency with their negative attacks.”
Health-Care Issue
Santorum, 53, offered himself as the leading voice for voters motivated by their opposition to abortion rights, gay marriage and other social issues. He also said he was better suited to take on Obama because of his longstanding opposition to the health-care law that the president pushed through Congress.
Romney, 65, signed a Massachusetts statute that contained a mandate to purchase health care insurance similar to the one included in Obama’s law, which the Supreme Court now is weighing on constitutional grounds.
Santorum decided to end his candidacy at a time when he had halted campaign activities late last week after the hospitalization of his three-year-old daughter, Bella. She suffers from a rare genetic disorder known as Trisomy 18.
Hogan Gidley, his communications director, released a statement today saying that Santorum’s daughter “has been discharged from the hospital and returned home earlier Monday evening.”
‘Difficult Weekend’
Santorum had been scheduled to resume campaigning today in Pennsylvania. Instead, he said in his suspension announcement that he made his decision after a “difficult weekend” with his ill daughter.
“It did pause us to think of the role we have as parents,” he said of himself and his wife, Karen.
She and some of their other children stood behind Santorum as he made today’s announcement.
Santorum, who had been bolstered in the race by victories in the Iowa caucuses and several primaries, said, “We were winning in a very different way because we were touching hearts.”
Surrounded by supporters, he said, “it really wasn’t my voice that I was out communicating. It was your voice.”
Still, in recent weeks he’d seen influential Republicans coalesce around Romney, including endorsements of the former Massachusetts governor by Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who is often mentioned as a vice- presidential prospect, and former President George H.W. Bush.
In an e-mail to supporters today, Santorum asked them “to consider one more contribution.”
“I am planning to do everything in my power to bring a change about in the White House,” he said in the appeal. “But our campaign has debt, and I cannot be free to focus” on that “with this burden.”
Fundraising Figures
Romney took in $75.6 million for his presidential bid through Feb. 29, more than the rest of the Republican field combined, and entered March with $7.3 million to spend. Santorum raised $15.7 million and had $2.6 million in the bank at the end of February. He also reported debts of $922,448.
Santorum, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and Representative Ron Paul of Texas had vowed to stay in the race until Romney secured the 1,144 delegates needed for the nomination.
Gingrich in a statement praised Santorum for running a “remarkable” campaign. Gingrich, 68, said he remains “committed” to continuing his campaign “all the way to Tampa so that the conservative movement has a real choice,” referring to the Florida city hosting the Republican National Convention in late August.
‘Last’ Alternative
Paul, 76, also sought to fill Santorum’s void. His campaign issued a statement saying he “is now the last -- and real -- conservative alternative to Mitt Romney.”
Gingrich has won two nomination contests, including the primary in his home state of Georgia, Paul none.
Romney’s trio of victories on April 3 in Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia accelerated his path to the nomination and intensified questions about the candidacies of his rivals.
After the latest round of voting, Romney had 655 of the 1,144 delegates needed to capture the nomination, according to an Associated Press tally. Santorum had 278 delegates and would have needed to win about three-quarters of those remaining to become the nominee.
At Romney’s Delaware rally today, women business owners were spotlighted. He spent about 30 minutes meeting with some of them before the event, and they were ushered to seats close to him at the rally.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll shows Obama ahead of Romney among women voters by 19 percentage points. Among all registered voters surveyed April 5 through April 8, Obama leads Romney by 7 points, 51 percent to 44 percent.
To contact the reporter on this story: Lisa Lerer in Washington at llerer@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jeanne Cummings at jcummings21@bloomberg.net
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