Santorum Suspends Campaign - The Road to the White House - Election 2012 - Week 15

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Category: Beltway Insider

Published on Sunday, 15 April 2012 00:07

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Former GOP hopeful, Rick Santorum suspended his presidential bid earlier this week, after his daughter, Isabella, who is suffering from the rare genetic disorder Trisomy 18, was hospitalized for pneumonia. 

USA Today Political Poll Tracker as of April 15, 2012 places former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney leading the pack in popularity, nationally, gaining 3.7 percentage points over the week, at the top with 41.4%. Santorum, even with his suspended campaign, held steady in the number two spot although dropped 3.8 percentage points with 24.2%. Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, dropped 2.0 percentage point over the past week coming in at 12.2 % and Texas Representative Ron Paul gained 1.8 percentage points to end at 13.8%.

Santorum, Mitt Romney’s chief challenger, waged a consistent and dedicated battle, for the Republican nomination. Although he has officially withdrawn from the GOP presidential race, and has stated in addition to his daughter’s illness a combination of finances and improbable odds led him to withdraw his bid, his name will continue to appear on all upcoming contests.

Santorum began his presidential primary campaign winning the Iowa Caucuses on his staunch conservative message and continued to cut a swath through the primary schedule, racking up repeated wins over the more moderate message of Mitt Romney.

Santorum’s early sweeps, Super Tuesday wins and appeal to Southern voters sent an embarrassed GOP leadership back to the drawing board as Romney’s Money Machine began outspending every candidate in each state, blitzing his message through every medium in an all out effort to convince the voting population that he and his moderate conservative message will emerge as the Republican Nominee in August.

The next primary for the Republican Presidential candidates is ten days away. The five state April 24^th contest has a total of 231 up for grabs. With Santorum’s name still on the ballot he is effectively still in the race. Should he sweep and gain a significant portion of the delegates he would need to take all 231 possible delegates to come within 150 delegates of overtaking. The odds are clearly not in the former Pennsylvania senator’s favor.

The next ten days will see the GOP hopefuls campaigning heavily to relay their message to the voters. Plum prizes in the April 24 contest include 95 delegates from New York State; 72 from Santorum’s Pennsylvania. Connecticut brings 28 delegates, Rhode Island 19 and Delaware 17.

The 2012 Delegate Tracker, of the 2286 total available delegates, Mitt Romney has secured 661 delegates, Rick Santorum 285, Newt Gingrich; 136, and Ron Paul 50. To secure the Republican Nomination for President a candidate must receive 1,144 delegates.

Isabella Santorum was released from the hospital and is home with her family. The three-year-old cherubim’s condition is improving although her prognosis remains the same. The family has asked for privacy during this time. Santorum’s has explained his daughter’s condition, Trisomy 18, a rare genetic disorder is usually fatal for children in early stages of life.