Photos: Santorum’s Visit to Arlington Heights in March

The hotly contested nomination to become the GOP’s presidential candidate tamped down to a smolder this week, as Sen. Rick Santorum, of Pennsylvania, suspended his campaign at the Gettysburg Hotel on Tuesday.

as it dragged on longer than some past contests.

, before losing the state to former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. Romney picked up 41 delegates in the Land of Lincoln, compared with Santorum’s 10. Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich did not gain any delegates in the primary vote.

We thought it would be appropriate to take a look back at that time, and Santorum’s campaign.

Earlier:

Santorum showed Hersey students a small copy of the U.S. Constitution that he carries with him. He said President Barack Obama believed America was not great until entitlement programs were created, whereas, Santorum said he believed America was great from inception.

At the time America was founded in 1776, life expectancy was 35 to 40 years of age, as it had been for over 2,000 years Santorum said.

“Two thousand years of kings and emperors and princes and dictators and authoritarian governments ruling the people, always for their benefit, did not result in any advancement of the human condition,” Santorum said.

We were an agrarian society in 1776, as we were at the time of Jesus Christ, when America was founded, Santorum said, and we changed to an industrial society as a result of the Constitution and the belief in the dignity of every human life, and in the ability of those people to go out and pursue their dreams.

“Without exception, we are the greatest country in the world,” Santorum said. “Life expectancy is now 80. In 235 years we did what 2,000 years of government rule could not accomplish.”

, and a group of his former classmates at Carmel High School planned a protest.

Santorum spent the day in Arlington Heights, and, after appearing at Hersey High School, and briefly at La Zingara Trattoria, Santorum spoke at Christian Liberty Academy.

, and were thrown out as the crowd chanted, “U-S-A.” More than 400 Patch readers commented on the story.

Patch readers also commented on a story that asked the question,

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