Santorum Out: GOP Hopeful Suspends Campaign

Reports indicate that Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum is suspending his campaign, which unofficially hands the nomination to opponent and plasticky rich guy Mitt Romney.

The New York Times cites two of Santorum’s advisors as the source for confirmation of the candidate’s decision, and points out his daughter Bella’s illness due to the condition Trisomy 18 as a factor, coupled with the constant battle against Romney’s “well-financed, highly-organized campaign apparatus.” Santorum, somewhat of a more grassroots, morality-based conservative, had been operating on a budget the Times described as “shoestring” only a few months ago and struggled to make headway against the less principled but far more moneyed Romney.

While Santorum’s positions were often unpopular, they spoke to a large swath of America that identifies as more religion-centric- even Romney, a Mormon, is far less vocal on issues of morality, faith and regulating one’s personal choices. The Twittersphere is alight with rumors and speculation, and many say that Santorum has already called Romney to discuss his withdrawal from the race- though an endorsement has yet to come in the absence of a formal announcement.

The Times highlights a difference in ideology that could play out in a number of ways in respect to how the two presidential hopefuls interact following Santorum’s withdrawal:

“…Mr. Santorum also cast himself as the true economic conservative who understood the needs of the middle class. His campaign attacked Mr. Romney, a multi-millionaire, as out of touch with the needs and interests of regular, working Americans… Those issues did not play as well in states like Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Illinois, where Mr. Santorum lost to Mr. Romney. Those losses helped create a mounting sense of frustration inside the Republican establishment that Mr. Santorum was waging a quixotic battle against Mr. Romney that would ultimately hurt the party’s chances against Mr. Obama.”

It would seem Santorum’s drop out is rather abrupt- as recently as three hours ago, the GOP contender updated his Twitter to reflect being “on the campaign trail.”