Rick Santorum Takes a Bow

Rick Santorum suspended his campaign today. Newt Gingrich all but conceded over the weekend. Ron Paul has been in remission for several weeks. That leaves Mitt Romney as the last man standing in the Republican race.

The scoreboard:

# of delegates secured so far	NYT	WSJ	CNN	CBS	MSNBC	RCP
Mitt Romney	661	661	659	645	573	656
Rick Santorum	285	285	275	252	212	272
Newt Gingrich	136	136	140	128	137	140
Ron Paul	51	51	71	45	34	67
Jon Huntsman	1	1	0	2	0	0
Total	1134	1134	1145	1072	956	1135
% of delegates secured so far
Mitt Romney	58%	58%	58%	60%	60%	58%
Rick Santorum	25%	25%	24%	24%	22%	24%
Newt Gingrich	12%	12%	12%	12%	14%	12%
Ron Paul	4%	4%	6%	4%	4%	6%
% of remaining needed to clinch:
Mitt Romney	42%	42%	43%	41%	43%	42%
Rick Santorum	75%	75%	76%	73%	70%	76%
Newt Gingrich	88%	88%	88%	84%	76%	87%
Ron Paul	95%	95%	94%	91%	83%	94%

Does this mean Rick Santorum is out of politics?

On the one hand, by finishing second Rick Santorum has a good claim to be next in line, along with Sarah Palin and whoever Mitt Romney picks as his running mate for VP.

On the other hand, if Santorum succeeds in delivering his voting base, he could be in the running for Secretary of Labor, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, or Secretary of Veterans Affairs in a Romney administration.