Rick Santorum’s top strategist is trying to quell speculation that Santorum’s four-day absence from the campaign trail means the former Pennsylvania senator might be considering leaving the GOP presidential race.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Santorum campaign posted the following notice on its website:
Given Santorum’s losses to Mitt Romney in Wisconsin, Maryland, and the District of Columbia, along with a growing consensus among political observers that the race is effectively over, Santorum’s announcement led some to suggest that he is taking time off to reassess his candidacy. But top Santorum aide John Brabander says that’s not the case. “In honor of Holy Thursday, Friday, and Easter, the senator will be taking a four-day break,” says Brabender. “I can assure you it doesn’t mean anything more than that.”
Addressing talk that Santorum might decide that a loss in his home state of Pennsylvania’s primary on April 24 would be devastating to his future political prospects, Brabender said, “You have to understand this guy. He’s an Italian kid from a steel town. Believe me, he doesn’t sit there and say, ‘What if I lose?’ If there comes a time when it looks like Romney will be the nominee, he will honor that. But we certainly haven’t reached that point yet.”
On Thursday, Romney will hold campaign events in Harrisburg and Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania. Late Wednesday, the Santorum campaign sent out a notice that Santorum would resume a full schedule of campaign events in Pennsylvania next week. Despite increasing calls for Santorum to leave the race, aides predict that if Santorum wins Pennsylvania in late April, he will then run up a series of victories in May, when the campaign moves to states like Texas, Arkansas, North Carolina, Kentucky, West Virginia, and others.
