Mitt Romney all but secured nomination
Rick Santorum stepped aside from his bid to be the Republican nominee for the 2012 presidential election on Tuesday, ending a late charge to take on Mitt Romney for the spot. While likely ending earlier than most expected, Santorum’s exit from the race only solidifies what has looked inevitable in recent weeks — Mitt Romney headlining the GOP ticket in November.
The departure from the campaign trail comes on the heels of a sabbatical Santorum took the past couple days to be at the side of his 3-year-old daughter, who suffers from a chromosomal disorder. The sobering situation certainly played a factor in his swift departure from the campaign, but it also shows that above all else, Santorum sees himself as a father. In a modern world where family and selflessness are commonly set aside for personal gain, it’s refreshing to see a father truly put his child before his career.
Critics can be quick to judge Santorum as a racially intolerant bigot, but you can’t fault the man for putting his family above all else. He’s certainly given YouTube and MSNBC their fair share of clips of gaffes on the camera to play over and over again, and many of his beliefs erred on the side of more-conservative-than-most. He isn’t the most eloquent speaker, nor the best politician, and he was never the favorite to win the nomination. However, he did play the foil to the lead candidate, who likely was too quick to sit on his laurels and expect to cruise to the nomination.
That late stage struggle Santorum gave Romney will inevitably make Romney a better candidate come fall. He acted a bit as a reality check to Romney, calling him on some of his more obscure policies and forcing him to refocus on the Republican base, which has been largely hesitant to embrace the former Massachusetts governor as the candidate of choice. So, while many within the GOP saw Santorum as nothing more than a nuisance, he played a critical role in the development of Romney as the party’s candidate.
The departure essentially ended any potential debate in the upcoming state primaries, as Romney is the only candidate remaining with significant support. Now, the GOP — and President Barack Obama himself — can focus on the November election. The Romney campaign — and his pet super PAC — has spent more money than it hoped to in essentially securing the nomination, but the lessons learned should prove helpful in mounting a charge on the sitting president.
All eyes should now be on how the GOP positions itself against the Obama–Biden ticket, as finding a worthy running mate to complete the GOP offering will be the next critical move Romney makes. For the sake of sanity, let’s just hope it’s not another Sarah Palin.
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