Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign is pulling its negative ads in Pennsylvania as Rick Santorum took Monday off from campaigning to spend the day with his young daughter, who is in the hospital.
“We have done this out of deference to Sen. Santorum’s decision to suspend his campaign for personal family reasons,” Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in an email.
Santorum’s three-year-old daughter Bella, who has a genetic condition, was hospitalized Friday.
The negative spot has been pulled until further notice, Romney aides said Monday morning. Santorum’s campaign has said the candidate plans to return to the campaign trail Tuesday.
After previously debating how much of an effort to make in Santorum’s political home state, Romney’s campaign appeared to go all in when it purchased $2.9 million of TV advertising time, according to a person close to the campaign.
Referencing Santorum’s 2006 defeat at the hands of Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, the negative ad asks Pennsylvania voters, “We fired him as senator. Why promote him to president?” according to a copy obtained by Politico.
In its place, the Romney campaign has inserted a sunny spot promoting Romney entitled, “Conservative Record.”
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