Santorum to Suspend Presidential Campaign

Stephanie Strasburg for The New York TimesRick Santorum spoke to supporters in Mars, Pa., on the night of the Wisconsin primary.

Rick Santorum is suspending his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination on Tuesday, according two of his advisers, bowing to the inevitability of Mitt Romney’s nomination and ending his improbable, come-from-behind quest to become the party’s conservative standard-bearer in the fall.

Mr. Santorum is due to make the announcement at a stop in his home state of Pennsylvania after a weekend in which he tended to his three-year-old daughter, Bella, who had been hospitalized with pneumonia.

The decision abruptly ends his quest for the Republican presidential nomination after weeks in which he has struggled to compete with Mr. Romney’s well-financed, highly-organized campaign apparatus.

As recently as December, Mr. Santorum was operating a shoe-string campaign in Iowa, traveling with just a handful of aides in a pickup truck. But his brand of conservative populism caught fire in Iowa, where he defeated Mr. Romney. And then it caught fire again in several Midwest primaries where he surprised Mr. Romney.

But ultimately, Mr. Santorum’s campaign struggled under a nearly-constant barrage of negative ads paid for by Mr. Romney and the “super PAC” supporting him, Restore our Future, which has spent millions in an effort to ensure that Mr. Romney captures the nomination in his second attempt.

Even as recently as last week, Mr. Santorum had argued fiercely that Mr. Romney is not sufficiently conservative on issues that matter to Republicans. And he has warned in the most blunt terms that Republicans risk losing in November to President Obama if they nominate Mr. Romney.

A former congressman and senator from Pennsylvania, Mr. Santorum had built a reputation as an unwavering social conservative whose commitment to pro-life and gay marriage issues helped catapult him into national office.

Mr. Santorum’s candidacy benefited from the comparison to Mr. Romney as the Republican candidates appealed to a conservative segment of the Republican party during the primary process. Mr. Santorum regularly mocked Mr. Romney as a flip-flopper on social and conservative issues who could not be trusted.

That helped Mr. Santorum win in several Southern primaries where evangelical voters and Tea Party supporters dominated the primary electorate.

But 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.

Mr. Santorum’s quick rise in the polls also led to repeated gaffes that knocked him off that economic message and pulled him back into an extended conversation about contraception and other social issues.

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.

Mr. Santorum’s decision will all-but clear the way for Mr. Romney to claim the nomination.

Newt Gingrich recently scaled back his ambitions, acknowledging that it was impossible for him to accumulate enough delegates to win the nomination before the national convention. Mr. Gingrich conceded Sunday that Mr. Romney would most likely be the nominee, and said his primary goal in continuing to campaign was to influence the party’s platform at the convention.

Ron Paul also is continuing to wage his effort to win the Republican nomination and is scheduled to campaign this week.

But Mr. Santorum had been the last remaining candidate with a potential shot at stoping Mr. Romney — and even that opportunity was dwindling fast as Mr. Romney accumulated delegates.

In Mr. Romney’s second bid for the Republican nomination, he outlasted several contnders who all suspended their campaigns, including Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann and Herman Cain — and now Mr. Santorum.

Republican officials at the R.N.C. had already begun considering the possibilities for beginning the traditional effort to merge their general election efforts with Mr. Romney’s Boston-based campaign. The decision by Mr. Santorum will make that easier.

It also could clear the way for Mr. Santorum to play a bigger role — and have a potentially bigger voice — in Mr. Romney’s campaign and perhaps in a Romney administration.

The New York Times