Rick Santorum said his candidacy was "as improbable as any race you will ever see for president". Here are the highlights from a shoe-string campaign that one at point threatened to derail Mitt Romney.
1) After months as an afterthought, Santorum surged in the final days before the Iowa caucuses and on election night no one had any idea what was going to happen. Without knowing the final result Santorum appeared on stage to declare "game on" and vowed to battle ferociously against the much-better funded Romney campaign.
1) After months as an afterthought, Santorum surged in the final days before the Iowa caucuses
2) Despite their tiny budgets, Santorum's media team produced one of the best ads of the campaign, attacking Romney for his constant negative advertising.
3) To the horror of Republican political operatives, at one point the primary became dominated by the issue of contraception - a vote-losing theme that led to a hemorrhaging of support among women. In an earlier interview that was replayed constantly Santorum said contraception was "not OK".
4) Santorum ferociously attacked Romney after one of the frontrunner's aides said the primary campaign was like an "etch-a-sketch", suggesting that the relatively moderate former governor was prepared to dump his conservative promises once the general election started.
5) After defeat in Illinois, Santorum came under overwhelming pressure from both the media and the Republican establishment to drop out and make way for Mitt Romney. Instead he doubled down but at one point lost it with a New York Times reporter who challenged him at a rope line.
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