COLUMBUS, Ohio — The super political action committee supporting Republican candidate Rick Santorum is demanding that rival Newt Gingrich end his primary campaign.
“Newt has become a hindrance to a conservative alternative” to Mitt Romney, said Stuart Roy, an adviser to the Red, White and Blue Fund, the super PAC backing Santorum. “Based on his electoral performance [Tuesday] night and his out-of-step record it is time for Newt Gingrich to exit the Republican nominating process.”
If Gingrich stepped aside, “it would be a true head-to-head race” between Santorum and Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, Roy said in a statement to The Washington Examiner. Polls show that a majority of Gingrich supporters would select Santorum as their second-choice candidate.
“[Gingrich’s] campaign is an obvious non-starter,” Roy continued.
Santorum’s senior campaign adviser, John Brabender, also urged Gingrich to step aside after the former Pennsylvania senator’s near-victory in Ohio.
“Poll after poll shows if Rick Santorum were just to have a one-on-one shot with Mitt Romney, that the Gingrich supporters go right to Rick Santorum in big numbers,” Brabender said. “So conservative and Tea Party folks are going to ahve a decision to make: Do we want Mitt Romney to be the nominee or do we want to just keep splitting the vote?”
Santorum has not directly called on Gingrich to step down.
