Republican GOP Presidential Race: Rick Santorum Is Out, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul Remain

4 Towering Giants: Republicans Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul. Only three ----now remain: Exit Santorum.

I thought I’d write a little something giving my thoughts on Rick Santorum’s exit from the Republican Presidential Race which is now ongoing with three candidates remaining: The clear frontrunner and assumed nominee, Mitt Romney, the self-proclaimed “Last Conservative Standing”, Newt Gingrich and the popular Libertarian “Ron Paul”.

To be quite honest, I’ve really, really tuned the race out since even a little before Rick Santorum dropped out of the race for the 2012 Republican Presidential Nomination. This isn’t something that I did purposefully per se, but having said that, I can’t say I really miss it. And it kinda pains me to say that, as I pride myself on being extremely aware of what is going on in the world of politics, as I see it as very important. And not just following your side, but I make it a habit to watch every major speech Barack Obama gives and that of his cabinet, and generally follow and listen to what the other side is doing as well as my own.

There is only so much a man can take though, and I think race fatigue has definitely settled in with the American people, on both sides of the aisle but much more so on the Republican side. I can only imagine what it must feel like for the candidates themselves.

Despite all the odds, Gingrich is still effectively in the race. Making him the last Conservative Left Standing ----in the eyes of those opposing Mitt & Paul.

Anyway, I wanted to discuss Rick Santorum for a bit. Whatever you think of the man and his positions on issues, you gotta admire and respect what Rick Santorum managed to accomplish. No one, and I mean NO ONE, thought that Rick Santorum would give Mitt Romney a serious run for his proverbial (actually literal) money. For my sake, I was sure that person would be Herman Cain. And if it wasn’t Herman Cain and even after it became obvious that it would be Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich was the one I continued to cheer on.

Although when it came time to vote in the Arizona Primary, I ended up choosing Rick Santorum over Gingrich, due to the fact that I was hoping he’d deliver a knockout punch to Mitt Romney. I ended up choosing that over a protest vote of sorts for Gingrich, who we knew would not win Arizona. Mitt Romney ended up carrying Arizona in the end however.

Rick Santorum officially exits the Republican 2012 Presidential Race.

Rick Santorum really threw a wrench into things though, and he did it with, as they say, OLD-FASHIONED POLITICS. This is a guy who was outspent 10 to 1 (in a matter of speaking) and yet still managed to take on the percieved front-runner and do major damage to him, while winning outright TEN STATES. How did he do it? He spoke the truth, he spoke with conviction, he maintained a positive image and a positive vision, and he WORKED HARD.

Rick Santorum won 269 Delegates as of April 2012, compared to Romney's 697.

And I mean this guy WORKED WORKED WORKED. As such, he is the poster boy for solid proof that someone who gets out there and gets his hands dirty, visiting each and every county of a state one-by-one, visiting all of the hotspot restaurants and political meetings, going door-to-door, shaking hands, kissing babies, and putting himself out there, can still carry the day in the age of 24-hour media oversaturation and infinite resources set against you. It is DESPITE all of these facts that Rick Santorum was able to seriously challenge Mitt Romney, that makes Rick Santorum’s story such an inspiring one. It is bonafide proof that money, the media and the culture of today all heading in one direction, does not a winning candidate make.

Here is a video of Rick Santorum’s full interview on Piers Morgan before he exited the race.