Americas

Americas

Santorum suspends presidential campaign

11 April 2012 00:26 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum announced Tuesday he was suspending his campaign, ending his months-long battle to represent the party against President Barack Obama in November elections, APA reports.

Santorum had been the primary challenger to frontrunner Mitt Romney to be the party’s candidate, but had fallen behind in the key count of delegates to capture the nomination.

His 3-year-old daughter Bella, who suffers from a genetic condition, had been hospitalized over the weekend and Santorum said his family had gathered at their kitchen table to discuss how to proceed with the campaign and also care for her.

At a press conference in his home state of Pennsylvania, Santorum pointed to the improbable rise of his campaign that saw him come from virtually nowhere to challenge Romney in the first contest in Iowa in January.

"We made a decision over the weekend that while this presidential race for us is over, for me, and we will suspend our campaign effective today, we are not done fighting," he said.

His appeal as a strong advocate for socially conservative positions against abortion, gay marriage and other issues had proven to have strong appeal in the southern and central United States, but he had struggled to compete with the better-financed and -organized Romney campaign.

Santorum’s departure positions Romney as the all-but-certain nominee. Two other candidates, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, remain in the race, but have not won enough delegates to challenge Romney’s commanding lead.