Why Did Rick Santorum Drop Out Of The 2012 Race?

The Republican presidential hopeful pool has grown even larger. Rick Santorum formally announced his candidacy, and the move comes just one presidential election cycle after his first attempt at ascending to the Oval Office. Santorum mounted a 2012 campaign that saw the former Pennsylvania senator receive nearly 250 delegates by the time he resigned his run. During his campaign, surprise victories in Iowa and Louisiana propelled Santorum to second place in GOP polls, just behind Mitt Romney, who would go on to secure the Republican nomination but ultimately lose the presidential election. So, why did Santorum stop his 2012 presidential campaign?

It's been speculated that money might have been the biggest factor against Santorum, whose humble campaign had him riding in a pickup truck as he campaigned across Iowa shortly before the 2012 Iowa caucuses rather than in the relative comfort of a tour bus. Although he was able to secure as much as $2.1 million from donors in January 2012 — the same month he won Iowa — his funding was nothing compared to the money being generated by Romney. In the same month, Romney raised $6.4 million and spent nearly $19 million, to say nothing of the rich financial position the former Massachusetts Governor was in prior to the election. Romney was able to secure more television advertisements for that reason, allowing for more exposure than seemingly any other candidate while Santorum struggled to find funding.

Santorum, however, never explicitly stated why he'd stopped running for president. In a statement just before the April 2012 primary, Santorum announced that he was suspending his campaign but that the fight wasn't over. Santorum went on to promise his supporters that he would continue to fight for American exceptionalism. Santorum said:

We are going to continue to fight for the Americans who stood up and gave us that air under our wings that allowed us to accomplish things no political expert would have ever expected... There's a lot of greatness in this country. We just need leaders who believe in that.

The GOP faces yet another presidential candidacy pool overflowing with hopefuls. Santorum is the seventh Republican candidate to formally announce, compared to just two confirmed candidates on the Democrat side.

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