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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former senator Bob Dole says GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum is "getting close to the point" where he'll have to decide whether to stay in the race for the nomination or drop out. In a telephone interview Wednesday, Dole told The Associated Press he was speaking from the experience of staying in the 1988 GOP nomination fight too long.

Rick Santorum won’t be winning any delegates in four of Illinois’ 18 congressional districts next month. But, at least in the 13th District, it won’t be because he didn’t try. Former senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.). (Julie Denesha/Getty Images)On Jan. 6, the state filing deadline, a Santorum volunteer had brought to the board of elections an envelope containing nominating petitions for a slate of three Santorum delegates in the 13th, the State Journal-Register reports. But the petitions were never submitted. A volunteer inadvertently failed to take them out of the envelope, the Journal Register reports, and the envelope wound up in...

Saying he'd look for a "strong and principled conservative" as a running mate should he win the Republican presidential nomination, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum tells Newsmax that he certainly would consider rival Newt Gingrich for that vital role. When asked if he would consider the former House Speaker as number two on his ticket, Santorum said Gingrich had been "tested" by the bruising GOP race and that makes him an attractive vice presidential candidate. Santorum tells Newsmax that his choice would be a core conservative who is “willing to stand up and fight for the things that I believe...

Rick Santorum’s ballot problems keep getting worse. The candidate failed to appear on the ballot in Virginia on Super Tuesday, losing his chance to win 46 delegates. He also may have lost his chance at more than a quarter of the delegates in Ohio, after he failed to qualify full slates of delegates in a few congressional districts. In the coming month, Santorum will face similar problems in Washington, D.C. and Illinois. His failure to qualify in the nation’s capital hints at organizational challenges.

Newt Gingrich stands to gain more than 50 delegates in the Republican presidential race, thanks to his overwhelming victory in Tuesday’s Georgia primary. .....If the totals hold, Rick Santorum would fall about 3,500 ballots shy of reaching 20 percent of the statewide vote. Failing to meet that threshold means Santorum was shut out of a share of 34 delegates awarded based on the statewide vote. Only Gingrich and Romney met that minimum percentage. Based on his vote total alone, Gingrich stands to win 16 statewide delegates; Romney 8. Under the state GOP rules, the remaining 10 statewide delegates are awarded...

A new poll released on the eve of Rick Santorum’s first campaign visit to Alabama shows the former U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania leading in the state Republican Party presidential primary. The statewide poll conducted by Alabama State University’s Center for Leadership and Public Policy showed 22.7 percent of likely Republican voters supported Santorum, who is scheduled to make campaign appearances Thursday in Huntsville and Mobile. Former Massachussetts Gov. Mitt Romney trailed Santorum with 18.7 percent, followed by Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House from neighboring Georgia, with 13.8 percent. The telephone poll of 470 likely GOP voters showed...

Long-time conservative activist Richard Viguerie suggested today that Newt Gingrich suspend his campaign and endorse Rick Santorum in order to unite conservatives against Mitt Romney. "Looking at last night’s numbers, it has become increasing clear that the former Speaker can either be a kingmaker or a spoiler," Viguerie said in a statement today, "because, to unite conservatives, Gingrich would have to suspend his campaign and endorse Rick Santorum for the Republican nomination for President." Viguerie argued that Romney must lose the nomination in order to prevent "the debacle of four more years of an Obama presidency." Read more: http://newsok.com/richard-viguerie-suggests-newt-gingrich-drop-out/article/feed/356737#ixzz1oSe1bS1N