Rick Santorum Suspends his Campaign | Eastern North Carolina Now

   With his campaign flagging as he heads into his home state of Pennsylvania's primary, and his baby daughter, Isabella "Bella," who is a "special needs child" and very sick of late, the combination of which was probably more than his family, the candidate, and his campaign could bear. Today, at about 2:30 pm, Rick Santorum suspended his campaign, and will now spend the remainder of his time before the Republican Convention in Tampa, Florida, August 27 to 30, with his family and his ailing daughter, and to some extent, still taking his message of real sustainable "hope" to the American people.

   Candidate Santorum, who has scored with Republican primary voters well beyond anyone's expectations, stated today, "I walked out after the Iowa caucus victory and said game on. I know a lot of folks are going to write, maybe those even at the White House, game over. But this game is a long long long way from over. We are going to continue to go out there and fight to make sure that we defeat President Barack Obama."

   The former two term United States Senator from Pennsylvania suspended his campaign, rather than unconditionally ending it, so he could continue to raise money to pay off campaign debts, and to continue pay his dwindling staff, and ultimately wind down his campaign. By suspending rather than ending his campaign, Senator Santorum will also have the ability to keep his hard won delegates on a short leash until that aforementioned national convention in Florida. Regardless of the control of the delegates until that convention, Candidate Santorum must find a probable way to erase his campaign debt.

    In an e-mail to supporters after today's announcement, the Candidate requested, "our campaign has debt, and I cannot be free to focus on helping defeat President Obama with this burden."

   With the campaign debt retired, and his daughter's health on the mend, it is Senator Santorum's professed desire to do all he can to help the Republican nominee defeat Democrat Candidate Barack Obama.

Senator Rick Santorum with his daughter, Bella, under happier circumstances: Above.