Santorum Almost Endorses Romney

Rick Santorum, in his first interview since dropping out of the GOP race, had some words of praise for Mitt Romney but stopped just short of a full endorsement, despite pressure from CNN's Piers Morgan. Romney gave a "good speech" after his 5-state primary sweep, Santorum said, saying he would support whoever became the party's nominee. "This is about making sure we have the right person in the presidency, in the House and the Senate,” he said. “I believe he’s the better—obviously I believed I was the better choice. But I’m not in the race anymore."

"Unless I’m mishearing things, you just endorsed Mitt Romney," Morgan said. "If that’s what you want to call it, call it whatever you want,” Santorum said, adding that he plans to meet Romney in the week or so. Morgan later tweeted that Santorum had endorsed Romney off-air, although Santorum's wife Karen denied any endorsement had been made, Politico reports. Santorum dropped out of the race more than two weeks ago but he still had a strong showing in his home state, Pennsylvania, in last night's primary. He came in second with 18.3% to Romney's 58%, leaving Ron Paul in third place with 13.2% and Newt Gingrich dead last with 10.5%. (More Rick Santorum 2012 stories.)