Santorum drops out of race for White House © Reuters/ Jason Cohn Candidate Rick Santorum is suspending his bid to win the Republican nomination. This clears the way for Mitt Romney to become the presidential nominee for the party. Mr Santorum held a press conference in his home state of Pennsylvania to announce his decision. The former senator had been lagging behind front-runner Mr Romney in opinion polls and in the fight for the 1,144 party delegates needed to win the nomination. The US general election is on November 6th.