Troy Senik, Ed. · April 10, 2012 at 8:04pm

Fox News is confirming that Rick Santorum is suspending his presidential campaign. He's expected to speak shortly in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Comments:


Western Chauvinist
Joined
Dec '10
Western Chauvinist

Frozen Chosen: Santorum lost his last race in Pennsylvania by double digits - he couldn't afford to lose another one in his home state which would've happened in the upcoming GOP primary.  These guys all have internal polling so Santorum knew he was behind in PA even before Romney brought out the big guns.

Santorum is a run of the mill politician who benefited from being the last NR standing after everyone else imploded.  He has some good qualities - great family man, etc. - but I won't miss his whining, that's for sure.

Oh and PS - he will not be the frontrunner for 2016 if Obama wins in the fall.  The GOP has far better choices wating in the wings. · 27 minutes ago

Hopefully Romney will be a more gracious winner.

Frozen Chosen
Joined
Aug '10
Frozen Chosen

Western Chauvinist

Frozen Chosen: Santorum lost his last race in Pennsylvania by double digits - he couldn't afford to lose another one in his home state which would've happened in the upcoming GOP primary.  These guys all have internal polling so Santorum knew he was behind in PA even before Romney brought out the big guns.

Santorum is a run of the mill politician who benefited from being the last NR standing after everyone else imploded.  He has some good qualities - great family man, etc. - but I won't miss his whining, that's for sure.

Oh and PS - he will not be the frontrunner for 2016 if Obama wins in the fall.  The GOP has far better choices wating in the wings. · 27 minutes ago

Hopefully Romney will be a more gracious winner. · 8 minutes ago

Just calling 'em like I see 'em, WC! (which you and Drew have not hesitated to do either, may I point out.)

Edited on April 10, 2012 at 10:02pm
C. U. Douglas
Joined
Apr '11
C. U. Douglas

From Santorum's Campaign site to his supporters:  An official letter of thanks.

Empty Nester
Joined
Apr '12
badgergreg
Pat in Obamaland: Let seven months of the media demagoguing a religious faith begin. · 2 hours ago

One just knew they were "saving it" for the post-primary season. As predictable as night follows day.

Frozen Chosen
Joined
Aug '10
Frozen Chosen

Western Chauvinist

 

Hopefully Romney will be a more gracious winner. · 24 minutes ago

Your wish is granted.  Just released statement from Romney;

"Senator Santorum is 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. We both recognize that what is most important is putting the failures of the last three years behind us and setting America back on the path to prosperity."

I will say this about Santorum - at least he had the class to call Mitt and congratulate him whenever Romney won a primary - which is more than I can say about a certain amphibian candidate...

Michael Pate
Joined
Oct '10
Michael Pate

I really think it was a matter of timing - when every other not-Romney imploded, he was the last one left when Iowa arrived. Then Newt got a second chance by winning South Carolina, imploded again, and Rick was able to hang onto the not-Romney banner.

But he would have been a horrendous candidate in the General Election. After the MSM got done with him, moderates would have been streaming to the ballot box in November to vote against him as a religious fanatic. He simply could not win and it was high time he left.

And while I am concerned for his daughter's health, I think this has been in the works since last week when he and his staff took the weekend off.

Gary The Ex-Donk
Joined
Mar '12
Gary The Ex-Donk

What would have been the point of staying in?  He would have lost all the primaries on 4/24 - including PA - and it's very likely he wouldn't have won a single primary after that because of Romney's momentum.  To go to the convention with close to the same number of delegates that Huckabee had when he dropped out in 2008 and try and make a statement would have done no one any good.

At least this way, the RNC will probably allow him a prime time speech in Tampa.

Mel Foil
Joined
Jun '10
etoiledunord

The other factor is, Romney finally has a clue and is giving much better speeches. Much better. He should thank Santorum and Gingrich for toughening him up. He'll certainly need it.

James Poulos

The big takeaway for me is that Santorum helped dramatize just how changed a political landscape it is for America's social conservatives. Sure, there's energetic agreement on many of the traditional hot-button issues. But the base split this year among several distinctly different candidates, defying 'denominational loyalty'. And religious social conservative leaders are starting to act very much out of character, at least relative to decades past. Increasingly, it's no more Mr. Nice Guy for Catholic leaders, while big-time evangelicals like Pat Robertson are coming out in favor of legalizing marijuana and reforming the prisons. The sense I get is these changes are just the beginning.

Tom Wilson
Joined
Oct '11
Tom Wilson

Western Chauvinist:

Romney is gradually encouraging me to believe he understands the scope of our problems is well beyond the economy. The deficits, debt, transfer payments (35% of income?), pending inflation, stock market volatility, and other indicators are superficial signs of the underlying cultural rot.

I imagine Romney agrees with you, but believes the likelihood of a politician changing the hearts of those who care little about traditional values is very remote. I think the country is in a lot more trouble than most imagine. The rot is very deep.

Richard Stewart
Joined
May '10
Richard Stewart

Yeah, it will be interesting to watch, but I can't bring myself to use the adjective "fun." The costs (in every sense of the word) of losing are just too high.In my more morose moments, I have to ask whether or not we are merely choosing the size and scope of the impending calamity. Then, in the bright side, I have to think that Romney will certainly do a better job of managing the coming fiscal and military challenges than the incumbent...

James Of England
Joined
Apr '11
James Of England

Gary The Ex-Donk: What would have been the point of staying in?  He would have lost all the primaries on 4/24 - including PA - and it's very likely he wouldn't have won a single primary after that because of Romney's momentum.  To go to the convention with close to the same number of delegates that Huckabee had when he dropped out in 2008 and try and make a statement would have done no one any good.

At least this way, the RNC will probably allow him a prime time speech in Tampa. · 2 hours ago

He'd have won in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Arkansas. As it is, Newt will win there. With 13 states, his line about being the most successful runner up in a Republican primary would be, in some sense, true.

Frozen Chosen
Joined
Aug '10
Frozen Chosen

James Of England

Gary The Ex-Donk: What would have been the point of staying in?  He would have lost all the primaries on 4/24 - including PA - and it's very likely he wouldn't have won a single primary after that because of Romney's momentum.  To go to the convention with close to the same number of delegates that Huckabee had when he dropped out in 2008 and try and make a statement would have done no one any good.

At least this way, the RNC will probably allow him a prime time speech in Tampa. · 2 hours ago

He'd have won in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Arkansas. As it is, Newt will win there. With 13 states, his line about being the most successful runner up in a Republican primary would be, in some sense, true. · 12 minutes ago

If Newt wins WV, KY and AR those states should be tossed from the Republic!

James Of England
Joined
Apr '11
James Of England

Frozen Chosen

James Of England

Gary The Ex-Donk: What would have been the point of staying in?  He would have lost all the primaries on 4/24 - including PA - and it's very likely he wouldn't have won a single primary after that because of Romney's momentum.  To go to the convention with close to the same number of delegates that Huckabee had when he dropped out in 2008 and try and make a statement would have done no one any good.

At least this way, the RNC will probably allow him a prime time speech in Tampa. · 2 hours ago

He'd have won in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Arkansas. As it is, Newt will win there. With 13 states, his line about being the most successful runner up in a Republican primary would be, in some sense, true. · 12 minutes ago

If Newt wins WV, KY and AR those states should be tossed from the Republic! · 

Man, I don't think I've ever seen you this feisty, Frozen!

I'm guessing that they'll all vote right in November, though, and there's a lot of good people in each of 'em.

Fred Cole
Joined
Nov '11
Fred Cole

I'm glad he dropped out.  I was worried for like a week or two that he might win the nomination.  Then I would've had to have changed my voter reg.

Gary The Ex-Donk
Joined
Mar '12
Gary The Ex-Donk

James Of England

Gary The Ex-Donk: What would have been the point of staying in?  He would have lost all the primaries on 4/24 - including PA - and it's very likely he wouldn't have won a single primary after that because of Romney's momentum.  To go to the convention with close to the same number of delegates that Huckabee had when he dropped out in 2008 and try and make a statement would have done no one any good.

At least this way, the RNC will probably allow him a prime time speech in Tampa. · 2 hours ago

He'd have won in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Arkansas. As it is, Newt will win there. With 13 states, his line about being the most successful runner up in a Republican primary would be, in some sense, true. · Apr 10 at 3:40pm

I disagree that Newt will win any of those states - he's polling nationally about 10%.  He won SC because he was surging from a much-hyped debate performance and he won GA because it's his "home" state.  Not sure how you can assert that he can win anything else at this point.

Edited on April 12, 2012 at 3:26pm
James Of England
Joined
Apr '11
James Of England

Gary The Ex-Donk

James Of England

He'd have won in West Virginia, Kentucky, and Arkansas. As it is, Newt will win there. With 13 states, his line about being the most successful runner up in a Republican primary would be, in some sense, true. ·

I disagree that Newt will win any of those states - he's polling nationally about 10%.  He won SC because he was surging from a much-hyped debate performance and he won GA because it's his "home" state.  I fail to understand you estimate he can win anything else at this point? ·

West Virginia is a maybe, but Kentucky and Arkansas have very high numbers of evangelical voters indeed, and evangelicals have proven to be the ABR block in elections so far. Arkansas in particular may have the highest evangelical turnout of the primaries as a whole, and will have a lot of spoiling Democrat votes.

I didn't mention North Carolina or Delaware, the two states that Newt is currently focusing on, because I think that Mitt can take both of those, despite NC being one of Newt's first states to campaign in. I go into more detail here.


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