Rick Santorum’s departure from the GOP Presidential race puts the nomination, for all intents and purposes, in Mitt Romney’s hands. Throughout the primaries, Santorum was the one candidate who spoke most consistently about manufacturing jobs and manufacturing issues. Here’s a look back at some of Sen. Santorum’s highlights during the campaign:

• The overall GOP campaign didn’t find its manufacturing voice right off the bat. Santorum (along with Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, and Ron Paul) was found to be selling campaign swag that was made abroad.
• Santorum's jobs plan, laid out in September, was the first to put manufacturing front and center. He called for a 0% tax rate on domestic manufacturers.
• As Santorum rose in the polls in early January, pundits saw that his manufacturing rhetoric was gaining him support.
• Perhaps the most iconic image of the Santorum campaign was his sweater vests. These were made in USA by Bemidji Woolen Mills in Bemidji, Minnesota.
• As Super Tuesday neared, the candidates pulled no punches on manufacturing jobs and their plans to fix the economy.

Although we might not have agreed with him on everything, Rick Santorum was the only candidate in the race to talk consistently about the need for manufacturing jobs. We hope President Obama and Gov. Romney will continue this debate. It’s clearly one the American people want to have.