santorum quits

Yesterday we heard that Rick Santorum was suspending his campaign to be with Bella at the hospital. But today he made a bigger announcement: "We made a decision over the weekend that the presidential race, for me, is over and we are suspending our campaign, but the fight is not yet over."

And here's the shocker -- during his speech this afternoon he made no mention of Romney. No endorsement for Romney? That was the very first question reporters had for Santorum the moment he ended his speech. Santorum made no reply, just left the room with his family.

So that's it? He's going to endorse Romney, isn't he? He has to, right?

One possible scenario is that he is planning to endorse Romney, but not yet. Maybe he wants to plan a separate announcement with Romney -- and he wanted this announcement to focus solely on concluding his campaign.

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Santorum ended his speech by saying he would continue fighting to elect a Republican president and ensure Republican control of Congress. I think that could be his way of signaling that an endorsement for Romney is coming.

And Santorum really doesn't have much of a choice. Newt has already said he would endorse Romney if he became the nominee. And there are no other viable Republican challengers now. I imagine Santorum is probably not exactly thrilled with the idea of backing his former rival. But he also knows not endorsing Romney will just further splinter the Republican party and make things even easier for Obama.

But then there's this...

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Do you think Santorum will eventually endorse Romney?

 

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