One day before the official Washington State Republican Party convention proceedings begin Friday, former GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum delivered a video message Thursday urging supporters to back former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, now the presumptive Republican nominee after Tuesday’s decisive win in the Texas primary.

In a videotaped statement, Santorum asked delegates who had supported him prior to his exit from the race to join a unity slate of delegates supporting Romney.

Santorum’s call to his supporters to get behind Romney could blunt the threat of an insurgency at the convention from the delegation supporting Congressman Ron Paul’s presidential candidacy.

At Republican county-level conventions held across the state, Paul supporters have had mixed degrees of success sending delegates to this week’s state convention.

At the time of Washington State’s March 3 caucuses, Santorum was still part of the winnowing GOP field and took 24 percent of caucus votes, a third place finish just behind Congressman Ron Paul’s 25 percent in what was essentially a beauty contest. Romney won caucus voting with 38 percent but will not be awarded any delegates to the Republican National Convention until this week’s Washington State Republican Party Convention.

Santorum’s former national campaign manager Michael Biundo—now deputy coalitions director with the Romney campaign—also sent a letter to Santorum delegates in Washington State, reinforcing the message of unifying behind Romney:

I am pleased that the “Romney Slate” of delegates from Washington State to the National Convention in Tampa includes many delegates who supported Rick at the March 3rd caucus and continued to work for our campaign through the county convention process. These delegates will ensure that our conservative values will be heard in Tampa and continue to influence the party for years to come.

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[featured photo credit: Gage Skidmore]