jim o'toole, what would you too old that? you've covered him, what, since he first ran for congress, is that right? >> that's right. he's always been one to run against the odds. i think he had... luck often goes with hard work, no one worked harder than rick santorum in this race and the kinds of lonely stops in iowa that susan described where the norm for him for months and months. but there was an upside to that in that in a time in late november, herbally december when other candidates in iowa who we barely remember were killing one another and the airwaves and elsewhere he was below the radar screen. so when that kind of anti-romney vote was looking for a place to land, a place to coalesce, he was able to benefit from the fact that that he had not been torn apart as some of his rivals had been. >> woodruff: in fact, susan, for all... people, i think, in in a way maybe belittle what santorum did because he was the last of the anti-romneys standing but he was able to keep at it longer than the rest of him. >> we saw him be

i want to bring in jim o'toole, the politics editors for the "pittsburgh post gazette."e's followed rick santorum since the start of his political career. were you surprised that this happened now? and say the race didn't get at least to pennsylvania because he was polling well in his home start. >> aside from his family issues, which are genuine, the political argument was going against him staying here. he was clearly in danger of losing pennsylvania, which would have put a sour end to a truly remarkable political story of how he revived his career after his 2006 defeat in the senate race. >> i want to bring in -- sorry, go ahead, go ahead jim. >> sorry, just to say that there was some suspense over when this was going to happen. not on whether it was going to happen. >> as woft blitzer put it, this is the official bet gining to the presidential race and this seals the deal for mitt romney. i can't imagine that anyone disagrees and yet, dafd gergen, we're not hearing from his campaign that an endorsement is an inevitability. >> it's a surprise and otherwise a wise depa