mitt romney looks unstoppable tonight. in the race for the republican nomination. his closest competitor, rick santorum, quit the race today. santorum, far behind in the delegate count, was facing what could have been a loss in his home state of pennsylvania two weeks from tonight. chip reid was there when santorum bowed out. he joins us from gettysburg tonight. chip. reporter: good evening, scott. it was just this morning that rick santorum s campaign announced he was coming here to gettysburg for a campaign rally. so it came as a major surprise when word started to spread that he was coming here to end his campaign. this presidential race for us is over, for me. we will suspend our campaign effective today. reporter: rick santorum did not say exactly why he s ending his campaign. but he hinted that it had a lot to do with his three-year-old daughter bella who suffers from a rare, often fatal, genetic disorder and who spent this past weekend in the hospital. it did c
for wednesday, april 11, 2012. good morning, thanks for joining us. i m michelle miller. it was an announcement that caught mitt romney by surprise. rick santorum s arupt decision to suspend his presidential campaign. now it s romney versus president obama and romney has to work on his image. a new national poll says president obama appears much more friendly and likeable than romney by a 2-1 margin. duarte geraldine in washington with more. reporter: good morning, michelle. polls also show obama has a distinct advantage among women voters. santorum fell short of officially endorsing romney as suspended his campaign but he s vowing to fight alongside republicans as they reclaim the white house. mitt romney campaigned in pennsylvania with a new wide open path to the presidential nomination. this has been quite a day for me. i kind of like today. reporter: his closest rival, rick santorum, suspended his campaign yesterday. this presidential race for us is over. re
santorum this far. against all odds, we won 11 states. reporter: in early debates with his support in single digits he complained about being ignored. as i told you when i traveled around iowa, you would see me in your hometown but you probably wouldn t see much of me on television. it s holding true tonight. reporter: but he stunned the republican establishment with a victory in iowa. game on. reporter: famous for speaking his mind, he ignited a series of political fire storms with statements of his deeply conservative beliefs. many from the christian faith have said that s okay. contraception is okay. it s not okay. it s a license to do things in the sexual realm that is counter to what. how things are supposed to be. reporter: such comments further endear him to many conservatives but may have bruised the party s image among moderate and independent voters especially women. santorum did not mention mitt romney s name today but advisors say they did speak an
this is the cbs evening news with scott pelley. pelley: good evening. mitt romney looks unstoppable tonight. in the race for the republican nomination. his closest competitor, rick santorum, quit the race today. santorum, far behind in the delegate count, was facing what could have been a loss in his home state of pennsylvania two weeks from tonight. chip reid was there when santorum bowed out. he joins us from gettysburg tonight. chip. reporter: good evening, scott. it was just this morning that rick santorum s campaign announced he was coming here to gettysburg for a campaign rally. so it came as a major surprise when word started to spread that he was coming here to end his campaign. this presidential race for us is over. for me. we will suspend our campaign effective today. reporter: rick santorum did not say exactly why he s ending his campaign. but he hinted that it had a lot to do with his three-year-old daughter bella who suffers from a rare, often fatal, ge