On Tuesday, April 10th, in a press conference at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Rick Santorum announced the official suspension of his campaign for the Presidency. While family matters have led to temporary suspensions for his campaign in the past (his youngest daughter, Bella, has Trisomy 18, commonly known as Edwards disease, and has been in the hospital for a large chunk of this campaign), Santorum has said he will not seek the White House.
“This game is a long, long, long way from over,” Santorum said. “We are going to continue to go out there and fight to make sure that we defeat President Barack Obama, that we win the House back and that we take the United States Senate.”
With his biggest competitor out of the race, Gov. Mitt Romney is certain to take the nomination at the Republican National Convention in Tampa Bay. It’s worth noting, however, that Santorum suspended his campaign, not ended it. By the rules of the Republican Party, his bound delegates, delegates from state where primary results are binding, are still obligated to vote or him at the convention. By the AP count, Santorum has 197 bound delegates. Of course, he can release them without ending his campaign, as it’s unlikely he’ll be ending his campaign anytime soon; even in suspension, he still has access to SuperPAC funds and donations, in fact, he’s seeking donations to pay off his campaign debt.
So what’s next for Rick? Undoubtedly he’ll be using his bound delegates and Super PAC funds as political leverage. And he’s still beloved by social conservatives and to a smaller extent by big business, even if his home state hates his guts (Santorum doesn’t like unions, and unions don’t like him. And when you represent Pennsylvania, you want unions to like you).
One thing I can guarantee you is that he won’t be Mitt Romney’s VP pick. There’s nothing Santorum brings to the ticket that one of many, much better candidates wouldn’t, save for public awareness, which doesn’t really matter at all (see McCain/Palin).
