But how many did he win before it was obvious Romney had won the primaries? Santorum hung around and won several states after Romney had won it, and most other candidates had dropped out.
I think Huckabee did the same thing in 2008. But it's how many votes and states did someone win while the primary race was still competitive that really matters.'
After Gingrich cut his own head off by attacking Romney from the left over Bain Capital and lost Florida, that’s when Santorum started winning (Iowa was his only win before that). Romney was far from the certain victor at that point but it was down to 4, Romney, Ron Paul, a hobbled Gingrich, and Santorum. He got my support by default.