Now Rick Santorum will have to Etch-A-Sketch his comments about Romney (Robert Galbraith/Reuters)
Fox and NBC are reporting that Rick Santorum is suspending his presidential campaign. Santorum is scheduled to speak to media within the next few minutes from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
11:09 AM PT: Let it be said that on the day Rick Santorum dropped out of the campaign, Mitt Romney's support in Gallup's daily Republican primary tracker had "soared" all the way to 42 percent.
11:12 AM PT:
11:12 AM PT:

Santorum calls Romney, announces his decision to suspend GOP campaign. He leaves race on a far higher note than when he entered the contest.
— @jeffzeleny via UberSocial for BlackBerry
11:13 AM PT: I'm sure Mitt Romney is pleased Rick Santorum is doing this on the same day that President Obama is pushing the Buffett Rule.
11:14 AM PT:

My twitter feed has confirmed that Rick Santorum is dropping out of the presidential race.. thank you everyone.. onto the next thing
— @kombiz via TweetDeck
11:19 AM PT:
11:24 AM PT: Rick Santorum takes the stage with his family, and references his daughter's health scare. He says she is doing "exceptionally well" and is back at home. Now he's talking about being a good parent, presumably leading up to his explanation of why he's dropping out.
11:26 AM PT: Santorum is telling us about all these people who he met while campaigning, people that he says he'll never forget. But honestly, I've already forgotten what he said about them.
11:27 AM PT: "We were winning," Santorum says. Hasn't mentioned Mitt Romney's name so far.
11:28 AM PT: The Duggars! Two drinks.
11:31 AM PT: Uh oh, Rick sounds teary. "Not a negative campaign," he says proudly. "We weren't trashing anybody." (Unlike, say, Mitt Romney?)
11:32 AM PT: Rick says he was running a positive campaign about "the scourge of Iran" and radical Islam. Very positive.
11:33 AM PT: "What I tried to bring to this battle is what Abraham Lincoln brought to this battlefield." Uh...
11:34 AM PT: And now he's talking about his campaign in the past tense. "Against all odds we won eleven states."
11:35 AM PT: "We will suspend this campaign effective today" but "we are not done fighting."
11:35 AM PT: So therefore, after Mitt Romney gets crushed in 2012, I'll be back in 2016. (I kid, I kid, he didn't say that.)
11:37 AM PT: Santorum finishes without mentioning Mitt Romney, let alone endorsing him.
11:40 AM PT: Man, I'm sick hearing about how much better Santorum was than people expected. Reality: Romney was that much worse.