Rick Santorum Suspends Campaign, Twitter Reacts (TWEETS)

Twitter Reacts To Santorum Announcement

Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator whose socially conservative message resonated with wide swaths of the GOP base, announced Tuesday that he was "suspending" his presidential campaign.

In a speech in Gettysburg, Pa., Santorum cited the health of his daughter, Bella, who spent the weekend in the hospital, as one of the reasons he was ending his run for the presidency. The Huffington Post's Sam Stein reports that political factors, such as Newt Gingrich remaining in the race and the structure of the Texas primary, also factored into Santorum's decision.

Sen. Santorum trailed Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and current GOP front-runner, 661 delegates to 285 delegates. A total of 1,144 delegates are needed to win the party's nomination.

Before Santorum spoke, news of his surprise announcement spread quickly on Twitter, and comments from the "Twitterverse" (which Santorum referenced in his speech) ranged from well-wishes for his daughter to jokes about his "Google problem."

LOOK: Twitter Reacts To Rick Santorum's Announcement:

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