Rick Santorum Quits

As conjectured earlier, Rick Santorum has dropped out of the race after his embarrassing performance in the Iowa Caucuses, which he won last time. CNN:

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum is ending his presidential bid, two Republican sources told CNN.

He is expected to make the announcement Wednesday night and will endorse a candidate.

Santorum won the 2012 Iowa caucuses and ended that race with the second-most number of delegates to eventually GOP nominee Mitt Romney. But he was unable to capture any momentum this year, despite extensive barnstorming efforts in Iowa.

He is the third Republican presidential candidate to drop out after Monday’s caucuses. Mike Huckabee ended his campaign that night, and Rand Paul suspended his campaign Wednesday morning.

It’s telling that the two most recent Iowa winners, Santorum and Huckabee, both dropped out after Iowa this go-round. The mood of the country in general and the Republican nominating electorate in particular has shifted greatly.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Mu says:

    At this rate Jim Gilmore will be the sole candidate sometime spring 18

  2. Tillman says:

    …crap, Santorum was never asked what his goofy Secret Service codename would be. Now we’ll never know.

  3. Franklin says:

    I can see this is a popular thread, because so many people noticed that Santorum was running. By the way, he endorsed Rubio except he couldn’t come up with anything Rubio’s ever done:
    Best endorsement ever.

  4. President Camacho says:

    I actually did not know Santorum was running. I guess he can go back to being a right wing extremist in PA again until the next election. It makes sense to run though – millions of dollars to spend on expensive hotels, an entourage, private planes, a few new suits, nice restaurants, people telling you that you are smart and important.