ers such as John McCain are calling “irrelevant,” former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum’s campaign continues to trudge onward.

It does so in spite of mounting pressure from leaders like McCain, asking Santorum to stand down and gracefully exit the race. On the flip side, high-profile Republicans have spoken in favor of and endorsed Mitt Romney, including former president George H. W. Bush.

In fact, as of the time of this article, Romney currently holds 658 delegates to Santroum’s 281, with 1,144 necessary to secure the nomination.  Some say he is even posed to lose his home state of Pennsylvania.

As much fun as a brokered convention would be, even if Santorum chooses to remain the conductor of his little campaign that could, Romney is shaping up to be the clear and outright winner of the Republican nomination.

With both math and rhetoric appearing to have no effect on Santorum, one must wonder why he is staying in the race. One distinct possibility is that Santorum is attempting to become a leader within his party.

As a candidate that many fringe and grassroots Republican organizations identify with, Santorum has the support of a vocal group of people. If the Occupy and the Tea Party movements have taught the United States anything, it is how loud these voices can be.

Sarah Palin, by virtue of being the vice-presidential candidate, cemented herself as an influential and instrumental voice in politics, and Santorum has the ability to do the same in this election four years later.

Alternatively, Santorum could have his eyes set on the 2016 election. Unless a miracle occurs, Romney will likely be representing the right come this November. However, this does not mean Santorum must drop out, as evidenced by his continued campaign.

By not dropping out, Santorum stays in the public eye, garnering attention as the candidate, who will not quit, fighting for American values and the American people. 

He appears to be outside the system, a man of the people instead of the Republican political machine. All of these options offer Santorum one extremely valuable characteristic: an identity.

After his rapid rise to fame and subsequent swift fall from grace, Santorum has done little to differentiate himself or make any kind of splash.

While Republican leaders are asking, politely as they are, dropping out may not be in his best interest. Perhaps it is in the best interest of the party or the Republicans’ chance of winning the election in November, but not for Rick Santorum.

The best possible course of action for the candidate is to stay in the pubic eye as much as possible, differentiating himself from a Republican candidate who has a long campaign ahead of him: Mitt Romney.

This enables Santorum to come back in four years, regardless of the winner of the 2012 election, and label himself as an alternative, but preferable choice.

This choice is one that his constituents and supporters can get behind, because either Romney or Obama will not have delivered to the American people what they deserve, or so Santorum could claim. Behind in the races as he is, Santorum has only one option: look to the future.