Santorum quits Republican presidential race

Former Pennsylvania senator effectively clears way for Mitt Romney who says Santorum 'will maintain key role in GOP'

Associated Press |Published: 04.11.12 , 07:12

Rick Santorum dropped out of the Republican race for the GOP's presidential nomination Tuesday, effectively clearing the way for Mitt Romney to claim victory.

"We will suspend our campaign effective today," Santorum said during a press conference in Pennsylvania.

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Santorum spent the weekend off the campaign trail with his 3-year-old daughter, Bella, who suffers from a rare genetic disorder, after she was rushed to the hospital Friday.

"We made a decision over the weekend that, while this presidential race for us is over, for me, and we will suspend our campaign effective today, we are not done fighting," he said.

Santorum's withdrawal sets up what is sure to be an acrimonious seven-month fight for the presidency between Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, and Democratic President Barack Obama, with the certain focus on the still-troubled economy.

"This has been a good day for me," a smiling Romney told supporters in Wilmington, Del., saying he believes Santorum "will continue to have a major role" in the Republican Party.

Whether or not there are lingering hard feelings, Santorum didn't mention Romney, who has been the front-runner for months and was far ahead in the race for the 1,144 delegates needed to clinch the nomination at the party's convention in August.

Romney has tried to ignore his GOP rivals and campaign against the president since he first entered the race last year with a pitch focused on the recovering but still frail economy.

Not done fighting. Santorum (Photo: AP)

But Romney was forced to go after Santorum and former house Speaker Newt Gingrich after Santorum showed strength in Iowa and Gingrich in South Carolina early this year. Then Santorum kept on, memorably winning three Southern primaries.

Despite Santorum's refusal to get out of the race earlier — and Gingrich hasn't officially dropped out yet — Romney had already begun looking ahead with a unifying message.

He told Pennsylvania supporters last week that "we're Republicans and Democrats in this campaign, but we're all connected with one destiny for America."

And Obama has turned squarely to face Romney, recently assailing him by name, as his campaign has worked to paint Romney as a rich elitist who will win the nomination only because he buried his opponents under millions of dollars in negative advertising.

"Neither he nor his special interest allies will be able to buy the presidency with their negative attacks," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said Tuesday after Santorum left the race. "The more the American people see of Mitt Romney, the less they like him and the less they trust him."

In response, a Romney campaign spokeswoman insisted that "for Mitt Romney, this race has always been about defeating President Obama, and getting Americans back to work."

Santorum's exit doesn't greatly change Obama's calculus. The president and his campaign have been expecting to face Romney all along and have already been targeting him. Yet the departure of Romney's chief GOP rival means this is the point where the Obama campaign will engage even more heavily.