Rick Santorum could endorse Mitt Romney for president in the next week, a top adviser to the former Pennsylvania senator said.
John Brabender, who served as Santorum's chief campaign adviser, said that if an endorsement of Mitt Romney is going to happen, it's going to happen soon.
"I think if something is going to happen it will happen sooner than later," Brabender
said Friday on CNN. He added that "soon" meant "probably in the next week or so, not in the next two months."
Brabender's prediction came after Santorum and Romney met for about 90 minutes Friday morning in Pittsburgh. Brabender said the conversation was "very friendly yet certainly a very serious talk."
In particular, Santorum discussed manufacturing and "pro-family issues" with the former Massachusetts governor, according to CNN.
An endorsement by Santorum could boost Romney with the conservative and religious wings of the Republican party. When he ran for president, Santorum worked to win the Republican nomination from the right, often criticizing Romney for not being conservative enough and for being too quick to change positions.
Soon after Santorum dropped out, he and his advisers began to shrug off some of the strong attacks the former Pennsylvania senator lobbed at Romney saying that campaigns are difficult but eventually candidates rally around the eventual nominee.
In the same interview Brabender said that an endorsement by Santorum would likely help Romney.
"I think if an endorsement comes it'll have more weight and will be more helpful to Mitt Romney if indeed that happens," Brabender said.
