Third-Place Finisher Santorum Digs In

THE CITADEL — The only GOP presidential nominee hopeful holding his election night party outside Columbia, Rick Santorum could not repeat his Iowa magic.

But despite his third-place finish, he vowed to go to Florida.

"I couldn't be happier with the way things turned out," Santorum told CNN prior to taking the stage. 

Though the candidate finished third, he waited third to make his concession speech before Newt Gingrich would — with his supporters picking up chants several times before Santorum addressed them. 

Jim Bob Duggar, of TLC's "19 Kids and Counting," was among the supporters.
Santorum sought to distance himself from Gingrich, who seized victory over the state early on.

He said he was the candidate of "no drama, no surprises."

"We're not just going to Florida; we're going out in the nation," he said.

Santorum, whose evangelical bona fides could have made him a strong candidate in South Carolina following his win in Iowa, instead spent a week wooing New Hampshire voters and finished fourth there.

His long concession speech on Saturday evening led some political analysts to suggest that tonight may have been his swan song.