Rick Santorum Suspends Campaign in Gettysburg Pennsylvania

Rick Santorum announced in Gettysburg that he is suspending his campaign for the GOP nomination for President of the United States.  Santorum was the choice of conservatives with his hard stand on social issues, including abortion and contraception.  While his campaign had a slow start, Santorum moved well ahead of the former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Rick Santorum had taken a break during the Easter weekend too look after his youngest daughter Bella, who has a genetic disorder that could potentially be fatal.

 First of all I want to thank everyone for the outpouring of prayers for Bella.  This past weekend was a time for prayer and thought.

He said he ran for office because he was concerned for his children and America that the American dream was slipping away.

He said he started out by telling his and his families story and after a while it became your story.  He said what kept him going were stories across America. These stories fueled our campaign, said. He said that he put forth concrete solid plans.  He said that we can never move  ahead as a country if we can't remember who we are.

He said we made a decision to run at our kitchen table and made a decision again and are suspending our campaign today.  Our decision to suspend the campaign does not mean we are done fighting and that he would go on to keep fighting to defeat President Obama.

Thus ends a 309 day campaign, one that was one of the most unlikely to get feet, but did. 

Santorum called Governor Romney earlier to advise him that he was suspending his campaign.

With Mitt Romney having accumulated more than the 1144 delegates needed, it was unlikely that anyone could defeat him for the nomination.  While it was a difficult decision for Rick Santorum, he was at risk of losing his home state, which would have been a devastating defeat. 

Santorum's campaign suspension ends the GOP nomination process, making Romney the Republican nominee.  The campaign will now focus on a contest between the incumbent President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.