Rick Santorum suspends campaign

Rick Santorum suspends campaign
BBC News

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum has dropped his campaign, leaving former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney as the presumptive nominee.

The former Pennsylvania senator made the announcement at a news conference in Gettysburg in his home state.

"While this presidential race is over for me, we are not done fighting," he said.

The social conservative had been campaigning for Pennsylvania's primary on 24 April.

But he was far behind Mr Romney in terms of funding and the number of delegates needed to seal the nomination at the Republican convention in Tampa, Florida, in late August.

After recent losses in Wisconsin and Maryland, Mr Santorum had 285 delegates compared to Mr Romney's 661, according to an Associated Press tally.

Former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Congressman Ron Paul remain in the race, but are even further behind Mr Romney.

But Mr Romney is viewed as the all but certain candidate who will face Democratic President Barack Obama in November's election.

Yeah...it was probably time to get out. Plus his little girl is in and out of the hospital a lot now. Gingrich needs to get out too, but is so deep in debt he probably cant afford to.