Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum announced he is suspending his candidacy for the presidency Tuesday. (Associated Press)

Social conservative and grassroots politician Rick Santorum announced Tuesday afternoon that he is suspending his presidential campaign.

“While this presidential race for us is over for me, and we will suspend our campaign effective today, we are not done fighting,” Santorum said at a press conference in Gettysburg, Penn.

The former Pennsylvania’s senator exit from the GOP race to the White House clears the way for frontrunner Mitt Romney.

GOP insiders and analysis alike have encouraged Santorum to call it quits in the last few days.

“Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich are as irrelevant now as Ron Paul to the selection of the Republican presidential nomination, and they both know it. They both know that Mitt Romney can start planning his coronation in Tampa,” Wesley Pruden, editor emeritus of The Washington Times, said hours before Santorum’s resignation.

In the last three months, Santorum’s strength in Christian Right states like Louisiana and Mississippi. His continued presence in the race fueled the fire on a popular narrative: diehard conservatives would never support Mitt Romney.

Now, Romney will enjoy a sizable lead compared to Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, the other two candidates left in the GOP nomination process.

Gingrich, second to Romney in terms of delegates, has 136 delegates compared to Romney’s 661 delegates.

A candidate needs 1144 delegates to win the Republican nomination. Romney is projected to hit that number in time for the Republican national convention in August.

Santorum will be remembered for his success as an underdog – he had a ninth of the funds available to Romney.

“Senator Santorum ran an outstanding campaign. His success in state after state shocked the political pundits and beat the expectations,” Gary Bauer, a lifelong Republican, said to CBS News.

SMU College Republicans agree with the national sentiment about Santorum.

“It was the best thing he could have done. He would have lost his home state, so he took advantage of a graceful exit. Support for one candidate is pivotal for the Republican party heading into November, and Mitt Romney is our guy.”