Politics: Rick Santorum leaves the race Mitt Romney had already won.

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Politics Game Over Rick Santorum leaves the race Mitt Romney had already won.  By John Dickerson Posted Tuesday, Apr 10, 2012, at 08:47 PM ET Over to you, Governor Romney. Rick Santorum has left the Republican presidential race, ending the most successful run by an improbable GOP candidate since publisher Steve Forbes' run in 1996. At the start of the presidential campaign, few in political circles would have predicted that a senator who had lost his last race by 17 points, who had no money, no pollster, and few endorsements, would win 11 contests.  The GOP presidential race was all but over, and now it finally is. Mitt Romney can stop fighting a two-front war, against Republican rivals to his right and President Obama to his left. His aides no longer need to start the morning with a discussion of how to tie off the Santorum challenge and where to spend precious resources. Though Santorum was not going to win the nomination, he could have wounded the eventual nominee, and Romneyland had to worry constantly about being surprised (as they were in Colorado on Feb. 7 when Santorum won a state Romney was supposed to win). Now Mitt Romney can focus all of his attention on the president, whom he trails by about 10 points. There have been a lot of presidential candidates who fell from great expectations: Rick Perry, Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani, and Phil Gramm, to name a few. They turned themselves into political punch lines with disastrous campaigns. The much smaller class is those who came from nowhere and energized their party, not enough to win the nomination, but enough to cause ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Saletan: The Real Problem With John Derbyshire's Racist Column Why Is the Sex in HBO's Girls Such a Drag? Help! I'm Worried My Tattoos Make Me Unemployable.	Advertisement
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