GOP’s Rick Santorum Still On Connecticut Ballot After Suspending Campaign

Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum abruptly suspended his presidential campaign Tuesday, but he will remain on the ballot for Connecticut’s primary in two weeks.

Santorum and three other contenders will be on the April 24 Republican primary ballot because it is too late to be removed from consideration, said Denise Merrill, the Secretary of the State. Connecticut’s ballots have already been printed, and the names cannot be removed.

Santorum will appear with GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney of Massachusetts, former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.

The withdrawal came less than 24 hours before Romney was scheduled to appear at a campaign event at a graphics company in downtown Hartford, not far from the old G. Fox building.

Santorum had emerged as the toughest opponent for Romney, but some insiders believe that he dropped out Tuesday because a recent poll showed him behind by 5 points in his home state of Pennsylvania. A loss in his home state on April 24 would have proved politically embarrassing for Santorum and would have made it more difficult for him to be viewed as a potential Republican frontrunner in the 2016 presidential race.

Overall, Santorum won 11 states, while Gingrich won two over the past three months.

The move by Santorum was apparently abrupt – as reporters had already received an email with Santorum’s detailed schedule of campaign appearances. The schedule included an appearance at Lancaster Bible College in Pennsylvania on Tuesday night and a town hall meeting at a firehouse in Camden, Delaware on Wednesday morning. He was scheduled to appear on former Governor Mike Huckabee’s radio show on Thursday and at the National Rifle Association’s annual conference on Friday afternoon in St. Louis.

Former state GOP chairman Chris Healy told Capitol Watch that Santorum’s withdrawal will prompt a reshuffling of the race.

“It’s time for the whole party to come together behind Mitt,” said Healy, who had backed Texas Gov. Rick Perry early in the race before swinging his support to Romney. “I think that has been going on for about a month. There’s no doubt that people who aren’t enamored with Mitt believe he could do a better job than the president. You can see the Obama people are very worried. … They think Obama can energize his base that the country is writhing in the fever of inequality, and it’s not going to work. His economic record is miserable by any measurement.”

Regarding Gingrich, Healy said, “I don’t see him being much of a factor. I don’t know why he’s doing what he’s doing, but he’s doing it.’’
He said that Ron Paul is simply “doing the dream.”

The Obama campaign responded immediately Tuesday to Santorum’s move.

Jim Messina, a campaign spokesman, said in a statement to reporters that “it’s no surprise that Mitt Romney finally was able to grind down his opponents under an avalanche of negative ads. But neither he nor his special interest allies will be able to buy the presidency with their negative attacks. The more the American people see of Mitt Romney, the less they like him and the less they trust him. While calling himself the ‘ideal candidate’ for the Tea Party, he has promised to return to the same policies that created the economic crisis and has alienated women, middle class families, and Hispanic Americans. Americans value a President who will fight every day to rebuild an economy in which hard work will pay, responsibility is rewarded and everyone plays by the same rules. And that President is Barack Obama.”

Romney has extensive support from virtually the entire Republican establishment in Connecticut, as well as all of the major fundraisers. Money-raising stalwarts like state Sen. L. Scott Frantz and former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Tom Foley have all joined forces behind Romney. That was not the case in 2008 when Frantz backed Romney, but others supported former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and eventual Republican nominee John McCain. In this cycle, Foley, Frantz, and others got together to say that they would coalesce around Romney.

In addition, the two top Republicans at the state Capitol – House GOP leader Larry Cafero of Norwalk and Senate GOP leader John McKinney of Fairfield – joined the Romney team early, along with former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, former U.S. Attorney Kevin O’Connor, former party chairman George Gallo, and others.