Rick Santorum is scheduled shortly to make an announcement from Gettysburg, PA where he will announce that he will suspend his campaign for the GOP Presidential nomination.
Fox News will be streaming the announcement live here...
This decision comes from Rick Santorum after reviewing his options and considering the future path towards the GOP nomination - including a critical primary on April 24th in his home state of Pennsylvania.
Rick Santorum had taken a few days off campaigning earlier this week as his daughter Bella was readmitted to the hospital.
Rick Santorum was a candidate was not a favorite or a frontrunner last summer as the GOP Presidential campaigns kicked off. He focused his campaigning on a small format basis in Iowa - surprising the field with a win in that state. As Newt Gingrich slipped, Rick Santorum ultimately became the primary challenger to the Mitt Romney candidacy - and in early February, scored wins in Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri to jump to the lead.
However, Romney fought back hard - winning in Michigan and Arizona to stop the Santorum momentum. While Santorum also performed well in the south, winning Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana - Romney's win's in Ohio and Illinois combined with his own 'hat trick' one week ago today, put Rick Santorum in a huge hole in terms of both delegates and momentum going into Pennsylvania.
By many accounts, Rick Santorum did a strong job rehabilitating his political career during this campaign effort - reversing the 16 point defeat he suffered in 2006 seeking reelection as a Senator from Pennsylvania. However, many also raised issues that by Santorum remaining in the race - and the turning of the tide against him in Pennsylvania (where a double digit lead has evaporated) - could damage the rehab if he lost to Mitt Romney in his home state.
The majority of the GOP has wanted to start unifying behind the nominee for President - and this has led to calls for both Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich to step down as they have a near impossible task to gain the 1,144 delegates needed for the nomination.
Evangelical Christians and hard right conservatives have been hesitant to support Mitt Romney - concerned about his positions and policies being conservative enough - but last week's primary showed for the first time that Mitt Romney was starting to get support from these groups.
This will allow the GOP to focus on their main goals for the November election - 1) Maintaining the majority in the House, 2) gaining the majority in the Senate, and 3) defeating Barack Obama for the White House.
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