The aftermath of the Iowa Caucus has claimed its third Republican candidate victim. Rick Santorum who came 11th (out of 12) in the recent vote has announced he is out of the White House race.
The former Pennsylvania senator, who won the Iowa Caucus when he ran in 2012, spoke to Fox News to announce he was suspending his campaign. Although he didn’t come last, Santorum has quit the race and putting his weight behind Marco Rubio, who came third in the Iowa vote with 23.1% (only 1.20% behind second place, Donald Trump). Santorum was not short of praise for Rubio, saying “he is a tremendously gifted young man”, “a born leader” and “the next generation”. Rubio and Santorum are now teaming up, and it is believed this is due to Santorum’s attempt to stop Ted Cruz from winning the vote. His strategist said that Santorum sees Cruz as “tearing down the system” whilst Rubio is more about “rebuilding”.
Santorum struggled to gain the public’s attention during this campaign, he never made waves in the polls, and never appeared in the main roster of prime time debates.
Despite Santorum’s decision to leave the race, the candidate that came in last, Jim Gilmore is still holding on. To put the votes in perspective, Gilmore received 12 votes whilst Santorum got 1,783 and the winner, Ted Cruz received 51,666.
The Republican race started at a massive 17 candidates, with three dropping out after the Iowa vote. Santorum now joins rivals, Mike Huckabee and Rand Paul. It is believed that more candidates will leave before or after the next vote.
The New Hampshire Primary takes place on February the 9th, with the winner being confirmed in July.
Who will be next to drop out of the Rublician race? Who do you want to be next? Keep checking back!
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