By Cassie Daszko

The crowded Amway Grand Plaza Hotel ballroom buzzed with excitement and the hope of what the night could hold. The eyes of the political world were on Michigan on Tuesday, including Grand Rapids, where presidential candidate Rick Santorum hoped to declare victory in the state’s presidential primary election.

But Santorum fell short, a narrow defeat to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. However supporters said Santorum will continue fighting, praising his positions on social issues.

Santorum took to the stage as several networks started calling the race for Romney, who also proved victorious in Arizona. But the former Pennsylvania senator didn’t mention the defeat, or even his rival. He turned away from talking about Romney and focused on President Obama.

“It’s getting hard out here in America, harder to make ends meet because we have a government that is crushing us,” Santorum said “Every single day with more taxes, more regulations and the idea that you don’t know how to run your life.”

Santorum pounded away on Obama’s handling of the economy and his energy policies, largely steering clear of the social issues that had become the focus of the campaign in recent weeks. As Santorum was walking out of the ballroom a member of the media shouted a question, asking if he thought Tuesday’s losses have stalled the momentum needed to carry into the next round of primaries.

Santorum raised his hands in the air in fists before replying: “We haven’t lost any! Nothing is over until Super Tuesday is over.”

Pundits had said a win over Romney in his native state would have been huge for Santorum, and the race had become nasty in recent days, with candidates trading barbs over robo-calls and inviting Democrats to vote in the Republican primary. But the mood in the ballroom was hopeful.

Supporters included some celebrities, such as Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar of TLC’s “19 Kids and Counting,” who were at Santorum’s election night celebration with eldest daughter Jana. The Duggars have been supporting Santorum since New Year’s Eve and believe he is the family values candidate in the race.

“Sen. Santorum is the true conservative in this race and he is the family values candidate that we want to get behind,” Jim Bob Duggar said as the ballroom started to fill with supporters and the national media. “We feel so strongly as we search we were praying in December about who to support and we went back and looked over all of their track records and that sort of thing, and, by far Rick Santorum was the best one.”

Duggar said his family is not Santorum’s “secret weapon,” as some in the media have described. But he said the family is happy to show support.

“We’re just hoping we can make a difference,” he said. “Rick Santorum has been outspent, and we are just doing what we can for the person we think would be the best president.”

The Duggars have spent the past few days in west Michigan speaking at local media, including a stop at Cornerstone University’s radio affiliate WCSG Tuesday morning. While most of the room was filled with Santorum supporters, Randy Hutson is still on the fence. He said he wanted to hear Santorum speak to see if the senator has what it takes to oust Barack Obama in November.

“I’m not supporting Santorum. I’m here because I’m supporting who can beat Obama,” he said. “Basically, because the degradation of our moral fiber and our economy and what he has done to our United States of America.”

Huston said Santorum might be the candidate to bring “transformational change.”

CU students who attended the event also agreed with what Santorum stood for and were saddened by the loss.

“After doing research on him and getting to see him in person, I really started to like him and am really sad that this could mean he doesn’t get the nomination,” Freshman Cynthia Van Fulpen said.