GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum will suspend his presidential campaign. He made his announcement at a press conference in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Santorum first addressed the health of his 3-year-old daughter, Bella, who, suffers from a serious genetic disorder. The Santorum family spent the entire weekend will her in the hospital.

“She is a fighter and she is doing exceptionally well and is back with us and the family,” Santorum said. “It did cause us to think… this was a time for prayer and thought.”

After spending several minutes recalling memorable moments from the campaign trail, including the buzz about his tendency to wear sweater vests, Santorum officially announced that he is suspending his campaign,

“We made a decision over the weekend that while this presidential race is over for me and we will suspend our campaign today, we are not done fighting,” Santorum said.

Speculation that Santorum could be headed for the exit increased last Thursday when he held a strategy meeting with conservative leaders.

Then his daughter, Bella, was hospitalized on the weekend. She was likely to be released on Monday.

A loss in Pennsylvania in the April 24 primary would be seen as hammering the final nail into the coffin of Santorum’s campaign and unofficially crown Romney as the Republican who will face President Barack Obama in November’s election.

While Romney’s campaign suspended advertising on Monday out of deference to Santorum’s ill daughter, the front-runner’s Super PAC, Restore Our Future, made no such gesture, staying on the air with $480,000 in time already bought.

Neither Santorum nor the Super PAC that supports him has started spending money on advertising in Pennsylvania, but spokeswoman Stewart insisted the campaign had the money to spend time on the air.

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