Santorum Pulls Out of Race

Rick Santorum has pulled out of the Republican Presidential Race, effective immediately. This basically means that Mitt Romney is going to be the Republican nominee for the presidential election in November. Santorum was the only real contender for the nomination other than Romney, Paul and Gingrich have no hope of gaining their party’s nomination.

Santorum’s exit marks a turning point in the campaign, now Romney and the Republican Party can focus their attacks on President Obama. The Republican campaign has been torn apart by infighting which has lowered the party’s reputation nationally. With less negative ads between Republicans, they can now build up an attack machine on Obama.

The reasons Santorum gave for pulling out was that his daughter is very ill and the knowledge that he could not win. Talking to reporters in his home state of Pennsylvania he gave this message:

"Ladies and gentleman, we made the decision to get into this race at our kitchen table against all the odds. 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."

Yet could there be another reason for Santorum ending his campaign? When he was asked a few weeks ago if he would consider being a running mate on another candidate’s ticket, if he did not win the nomination himself, he confirmed that he would. In leaving the race now, he can hold his head high, knowing he did well despite the odds (and dollars) being stacked against him. He could be a good running mate for Mitt Romney, but it’s too early to tell. If Romney chooses Santorum this would be a bad move for the Republican party as Santorum would have difficulty attracting votes from the key swing voters. Many in the centre view him as too far to the right on issues such as contraception, abortion, homosexuality, tax and religion.

Santorum has pulled out, but it won't be the last we see of him.