Santorum suspends Republican presidency campaign, clearing the path for Romney

Republican Rick Santorum announced on Tuesday that he is bowing out of the race for his party’s American presidency nomination.

At a press conference in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Santorum announced “The race is over for me.” Whilst he attributed this decision largely to his daughter’s ill health, many also see it as being strongly influenced by recent losses in the polls and the potential embarrassment of losing in his home state of Pennsylvania. However, although stepping down from the race, he emphasised that he would continue to focus on getting his conservative views heard.

Despite being seen as underdog to fellow Republican Mitt Romney throughout the campaign, Santorum made surprising and unprecedented gains in support in many states, due to dogged campaigning and a stance that appealed to social conservatism and evangelical Christians, leading to victory in 11 states. Ultimately, however, this was not enough to snatch the lead from his opponent.

Santorum’s suspension of his campaign effectively allows focus on the bigger challenge of the Democratic/Republican race, rather than on the intra-party politics that many Republicans feared were having a negative impact on the strength of the Republican campaign for the White House.

Following this news, it is now Mitt Romney who looks like the certain candidate to face Democrat Barack Obama in the fight for the American presidency this coming November. Although other Republican candidates remain, none have a chance now of clinching the race. 

Latest polls still show President Obama to have a significant lead over Romney and Obama has been on the campaign trail to gain Democrat support for several months now already. Romney will have to work to rally all Republican support behind him, especially to appeal to those who saw him as too moderate in his views. The overall result in the Democratic/Republican race is likely to be determined by a variety of factors, particularly the economy and the state of its recovery. 

Santorum’s next move, on the other hand, is yet to be determined. While it is rumoured that Romney may have Santorum in mind as a vice-presidential running mate, the two have differing stances on many important issues and others are saying that Santorum is treating this 2012 campaign as a “test run” for the 2016 race.

Sophie Mihell-Hale