MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) -- Tennessee’s Republican presidential primary choice dropped out of the race this week, and one of his biggest in-state supporters is expressing disappointment.
Rick Santorum announced Tuesday that he’s suspending his campaign to represent the GOP in this fall’s presidential election. Santorum won the Tennessee primary by a wide margin back in early March.
State Senator Stacey Campfield of Knoxville was one of Santorum’s biggest Tennessee supporters. Campfield tells WMOT he was surprised and disappointed by Santorum’s announcement. He says the presumptive GOP nominee, Mitt Romney, will have to sell himself to Tennesseans.
“Mitt Romney’s gonna’ have to step and say ‘Hey, I’m just as good.’ He’s gonna’ have to prove it. Barack Obama, though, I just don’t think he has a chance. I mean you look at somebody who’s just been a train wreck for our country and the disaster he’s brought upon us, so I don’t think he’s viable for most Tennesseans.
Senator Campfield praises Rick Santorum for bringing conservative social issues to the forefront and, as he put it, “taking hard stands on hard issues.”