In Romney, Ames Gets Its Man

People might be asking if it was coincidence that Gov. Terry Branstad endorsed Mitt Romney right before Rick Santorum announced he would suspend his campaign, but there's no question that Ames Republicans had it right all along.

Romney won  in the January caucuses with 30.6 percent of the ballots cast. Ron Paul was a close second with 28 percent. Santorum received less than 20 percent of Ames caucus goers votes. He was also third in Story County, where Romney had just 10 more votes than Paul. Here is a of Ames results by precinct as a refresher.

Branstad announced the endorsement about an hour before an appearance on Iowa State University campus Tuesday where he was defending , an ammonia treated beef product made by Beef Products Inc. He invited Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds and Iowa Congressman Steve King to speak at the event as well. They were among six panelists who told ISU students that they were the best group to fight misinformation about the product.

Just before the panel discussion began Santorum sent out a message announcing his suspension and made one last plea for funding. He said he wanted to make a change in the White House but was unable to go on.

“But our campaign has debt, and I cannot be free to focus on helping defeat him with this burden. I am asking you to consider one more contribution of $25, $50 or even $73.10,” the email said.